CostQuest Fabric Forward 26 Conference

About Fabric Forward

The broadband industry is moving fast, and the stakes have never been higher. Fabric Forward is designed to help ISPs, State Broadband Offices, and other leaders in the broadband ecosystem navigate the changes happening across the industry. Through hands-on working sessions and expert dialogue, the event sessions will provide strategic context, policy analysis, technical insights, and ways to use data and tools you will learn how to strengthen your business strategies, competitive analyses, program operations, and reporting processes.

Bring your computer, a pen and notepad, and your questions. Expect to walk away with a holistic understanding of what’s happening in the current environment and how to help your organization respond effectively throughout the next broadband chapter and beyond.

When: October 26 – 29, 2026 | Where: Edgewater Hotel in Seattle, WA | Questions: Please email [email protected]

*Limited spots available* (Hit capacity in 2025) | Early Bird Registration: Ends May 20, 2026.

Adjust, operate, and execute with the speed of change

BEAD rules are shifting, competition and consolidation are accelerating, and costs are rising. Broadband organizations today are being asked to execute in a market that’s changing faster than internal playbooks can respond.

The need for revised strategies and alignment between regulatory, operations, strategy, and business development has never been more important to stay on top of market dynamics.

Fabric Forward is thoughtfully designed to provide you with the data, tools, interpretation, and repeatable workflows teams need to respond to major market shifts, prepare for BEAD next steps, and build workflows to support effective decision-making around competitive positioning, customer acquisition, compliance, financing, and network deployment.

Explore agenda

Regulatory Clarity & Compliance Guidance

As BEAD oversight expectations, FCC/NTIA guidance, and HUBB/BDC filing requirements continue to shift, this conference cuts through the complexity – translating evolving policy into a clear, actionable compliance strategy. Attendees will leave with repeatable methods to demonstrate performance, navigate permitting realities, and protect reimbursement by reducing rework, delays, and audit and clawback exposure. All guidance is grounded in Fabric fundamentals: authoritative location reference, Location IDs as the evidentiary backbone, and maintaining consistency across Fabric versions and challenge review cycles.

Strategy & Capital Optimization

Understand how major market shifts – convergence, overbuild pressure, and consolidation – affect your organization and how to respond. Translate market dynamics into clearer build/defend decisions, sharper market prioritization, and geo-targeted sales and marketing approaches. Learn to leverage Fabric location data, BDC filings, and market intelligence to anticipate competitor moves, evaluate scenarios with greater precision than broad geographies allow, and align build phasing, take-rate projections, compliance reporting, and financial optimization.

Expert Data & Technical Practices

Build a comprehensive understanding of the Location Fabric: how it’s built, how it evolves, and how to operationalize it for compliance, planning, and competitive analysis while keeping BEAD and BDC reporting aligned. Learn practical GIS, SQL and Power BI workflows alongside API-enabled approaches to change management and data matching, keeping internal databases, billing systems, maps, and submissions consistent across data refreshes and reducing mismatches and rework.

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Hands-on

Working sessions

Every session is designed to produce direction and takeaways you can implement immediately.

Expertise

Learn from the people who build the tools & help shape the policy

Industry and technical experts, government and state broadband leaders, all in direct dialogue with you.

Comprehensive

Regulatory + Strategy + Technical all in one room

Because your biggest risks live at the intersection of all three.

Unique

Unlike any other broadband conference

Small group setting. Educational. Data-forward. Designed for execution.

“It was a pleasure to attend a conference with new content around interesting topics – really a departure from the norm conference circuit over the last several years – and much for the better.”
State Broadband Office Leader

“A sincere thank you to CostQuest for hosting an educational & inspiring set of presentations and a very gracious event – great food & venue. I have a better appreciation of your company, mission, & approach.”
GIS Manager at State Broadband Office

“Well, obviously the setting was OUTSTANDING! Meeting other attendees and sharing stories and the sessions were super engaging and useful. I learned so much about the Fabric data. Also, of value was being able to converse and collaborate with other attendees.”
Data Analyst, Regional Internet Service Provider

“Many thanks for setting up the conference and inviting state broadband offices. I found it to be one of the most valuable events that I’ve been to in this role.”
State Broadband Office Leader

Offsite event

Set sail on Elliott Bay

Experience one of the most iconic views in the Pacific Northwest.

As part of Fabric Forward 2026 registration, attendees who RSVP are invited to join a cruise excursion around Seattle’s Elliott Bay on Tuesday evening, October 27. Attendees will board a private Argosy Cruise and enjoy sweeping views of the city skyline, the Olympic Mountains, and the working port that helps define this world-class city.

To reserve your spot, please select “Yes” in the RSVP section of the registration form.