By: Rush Blakely, President & Chief Executive Officer, RealtyCom Partners
Key takeaways: At the 2026 Broadband Communities Summit in Houston, the RealtyCom Partners team saw five trends shaping multifamily broadband:
- Broadband is now a required part of the property and resident experience, not just an amenity.
- Property-wide connectivity matters more as smart-building technology, telehealth, and remote work grow.
- Owners want service providers that deliver measurable value, not just a service to sell.
- AI conversations have shifted from future possibilities to practical, operational uses.
- State and local regulations increasingly shape how multifamily telecom services are offered, billed, and disclosed.
Broadband is growing up, and speed is no longer the only measure of success. That was clear at the 2026 Broadband Communities Summit, where conversations extended well beyond building networks and delivering faster connections. Across the multifamily broadband industry, the focus is shifting toward sustainable business models, property-wide connectivity, resident satisfaction, and the long-term value of broadband infrastructure.
Spencer Brown, Mike Miller, Roxie Ferrin, Phil Veletzos, and I attended the summit on behalf of RealtyCom Partners, a telecommunications consulting firm that advises multifamily owners, managers, and developers. We met with many service providers and equipment manufacturers and participated in sessions covering the issues shaping the future of multifamily connectivity. Here are a few of our key observations:
- Broadband is now core infrastructure, not just an amenity.
Broadband has moved beyond being viewed as a basic amenity to an important required component of the overall property and resident experience. Owners are focusing on infrastructure decisions, reliability, managed Wi-Fi, resident satisfaction, and the complexity associated with supporting connected properties. - Property-wide connectivity is becoming the standard.
Property-wide connectivity is becoming increasingly important, particularly as smart-building technologies, telehealth, remote work, and connected devices become more embedded in the resident experience. Reporting, service-level performance, and ongoing utilization are important components of network health. - Owners want service providers that deliver measurable value.
Successful broadband deployments require stronger alignment between property owners and service providers. Owners are looking for partners who can deliver reliable service, minimize operational disruption, and provide measurable value, not simply selling a service. - AI in multifamily is moving from hype to practical operations.
AI discussions were less about future possibilities and more about practical applications, including resident communications, support automation, troubleshooting, and reducing service demands. The near-term opportunity appears to be using AI to improve operational efficiency and customer experience, rather than simply positioning AI as another technology feature. - State and local regulation is reshaping multifamily telecom services.
Proposed and enacted state and local regulations increasingly affect how multifamily telecommunications and technology services are offered, billed, and disclosed. Owners, service providers, and industry associations are considering how to identify new requirements earlier, measure their operational and financial effects, and minimize the disruption that can follow newly enacted regulations.
How RealtyCom Partners is responding
RealtyCom Partners is currently tracking proposed and newly enacted legislation that relates to our clients’ implementation of bulk internet programs, and we are excited that the industry is making this a priority as we seek to evaluate the real-world impact of new laws and property operations.
The network-health measures discussed in Houston are already part of how we serve clients. We provide reporting, service-level performance, and ongoing utilization to our clients with proactive monitoring of agreements in place.
Let’s talk about your portfolio
If you would like to discuss these trends and what they mean for your portfolio, contact the RealtyCom team or email info@realtycompartners.com.
Our next conference will be RETTC’s OPTECH in Las Vegas in November. We look forward to connecting with you virtually or in-person at that event!
About the author: Rush Blakely is President and CEO of RealtyCom Partners, where he leads strategy, growth, and operations for the multifamily telecommunications consulting firm. His career includes multifamily sales leadership at Comcast and Time Warner Cable, overseeing sales for Cayman Islands fiber-to-the-home provider Logic/WestStar, and managing a construction lending portfolio at Wells Fargo. He joined RealtyCom in 2015 and holds a finance degree from Texas A&M University.
