About a year ago, “Marketplace” host Kai Ryssdal was hanging out in Claremont, North Carolina, in a plant owned by Prysmian, a fiber-optic cable manufacturer. He was watching sand and glass turn into the heavy-duty cables that bring us the internet.

Ryssdal was there to see that process because the “Marketplace” team was reporting on BEAD, the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program. The program was tasked with using $42 billion of federal money to attempt a national broadband rollout.

While none of that money was going directly to fiber manufacturers like Prysmian, fiber internet was meant to be the priority in the national broadband expansion. However, earlier this year, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced that BEAD was going to see some changes. Those included a switch to a “tech-neutral approach,” meaning that “fiber first” is no longer the goal.

Patrick Jacobi is SVP of digital solutions in North America for Prysmian. He joined Ryssdal to talk about how the policy change is playing out in the fiber internet supply chain, and how other economic headwinds are creating both challenges and opportunities for the company.

Listen in the player above to hear their conversation.