Join us at Broadband Nation as we dive into the fascinating journey of Luck Grove with CEO Vincent Cioci. Founded in 2008 by telecom pioneers Joe and Mike Roberts, Luck Grove has grown from a small telecom subcontractor into a major player with over 300 employees and an impressive portfolio that now includes defense contracts and data centers. Vincent shares stories from Luck Grove's early days, recounting Joe Roberts’ international experience—from building networks in Iran and Thailand to innovating for U.S. broadband.
Now, Luck Grove provides full-service solutions in fiber, including planning, engineering, construction, and post-construction support. With the rising demand for robust internet, especially during COVID, Luck Grove has positioned itself as an essential partner for ISPs nationwide. Vincent also discusses their expansion into government and data center sectors, highlighting Luck Grove’s adaptability and deep expertise.
Recorded live from Broadband Nation Expo, Vincent previews his upcoming panel on the importance of streamlined permitting and local government cooperation for rural broadband access. Listen in as Vincent and host Alejandro Piñero discuss the industry’s evolution and Luck Grove's mission to bring faster, reliable internet to every corner of the nation.
Alejandro Piñero:
All right. Welcome everyone once again here from Broadband Nation. I'm Alejandro Piñero and I'm very pleased to be joined by Vincent Cioci, CEO of Luck Grove. Vincent, thanks for joining us here.
Vincent Cioci:
Absolutely. We're so happy to be here.
Alejandro Piñero:
Wonderful. Well, listen, I want to talk about some of the stuff you do, some of the things you're seeing, but before we get started, why don't you give us a little bit of history behind Luck Grove, and what do you guys do?
Vincent Cioci:
Luck Grove was founded back in 2008 by Mike Roberts and Joe Roberts, a father-son duo. Joe Roberts was a maverick in the telecommunications industry. He worked all his way up in the Bell system to head engineer, went out and did his own consulting work. He actually worked for the Shah of Iran before the Ayatollah came in and set up their entire network back in the seventies, and then he moved into actually helping the king of queen of Thailand build out their network. So it was copper back then, obviously, but tons of experience in doing some pretty high stakes build outs.
So he came back over to the United States around 2008. Him and his son Mike started Luck Grove Telecom, started as kind of just a name on paper company, but quickly grew into a pretty substantial operation. We worked as a subcontractor working through the past 10 years, from 2008 to 2018, and then I came on board and then the next fiber boom was happening. So when I came on board, we had about 10, 15 employees and we were able to grow collectively the company to over 300 in a very short amount of time. I think COVID helped our growth. People realized that they need faster internet at home, and we were there to help ISPs roll out their builds.
Alejandro Piñero:
Well, that's quite the history. It's not usually that international.
Vincent Cioci:
It's a little interesting.
Alejandro Piñero:
Well, listen, let's talk about where you guys are now. I mean, just looking into Luck Grove before our conversation, your outside plant engineering planning, permitting pretty much across the board.
Vincent Cioci:
Absolutely.
Alejandro Piñero:
We'd love to get your thoughts on how that's evolving. What are some of the key points you're seeing and that you're talking about here at Broadband Nation this week?
Vincent Cioci:
As the industry evolves, we're really looking, or ISPs are looking for a turnkey solution and Luck Grove has evolved into offering all those services from design initial planning, all the way through construction, post-construction service help on that side too as well. We actually started moving into other verticals in the government sector and data centers. So the industry is evolving and as more fiber gets built out, more data centers and areas need internal fiber and networks inside that we can definitely help with. So we've been seeing a lot of that.
Alejandro Piñero:
And can you talk a little bit more about that data center piece, the government piece, other commonalities that you can take from your experience? How do you see it evolving and what stage is that in right now?
Vincent Cioci:
So right now, actually last year we got onboarded with a very large defense contractor. So we're starting to help them with their layer one networks internal, and with that also their data centers with rack moves, head-end configuration, cybersecurity, et cetera. So yeah, I mean our experience in the OSP world, that was really our bread and butter, but it allowed us to also hire the right folks to teach us and learn together and working in the government and data center space. So it's been really exciting to get us to that side of things.
Alejandro Piñero:
Of course, we're here at Broadband Nation Expo in DC. We met you guys last year at US Broadband Summit. I wanted you to give us a flavor. What happened that week? What did you think and what brought you back this year to join us once again?
Vincent Cioci:
So I believe last year we found our first government contract was here last year.
Alejandro Piñero:
There you go.
Vincent Cioci:
So you guys were very pivotal in us getting into that vertical. So we're super appreciative of the people and the great folks you bring around. And we had lot of success last year.
Alejandro Piñero:
Awesome. We'd love to hear that.
Vincent Cioci:
It's awesome.
Alejandro Piñero:
Now Vincent, of course you're here. We're keeping you busy. You're about to, after this conversation, you're sitting on a panel all about engineering planning and construction. One huge topic that I know is going to be in discussion is permitting and everything that goes around that. Do you want to give us a little bit of a breakdown of what you hope your key message will be at the panel and perhaps for folks that aren't able to join today?
Vincent Cioci:
So I believe that this conversation coming up is really focused on the rural aspect of reaching everyone, reaching broadband to everyone. And obviously permitting plays a huge role in that. And my message and one of the points that we're going to be definitely diving in on is the local government's response to ISPs trying to bring broadband to the area. I think it's fractioned or fractured, I'm sorry. And we need to bring everyone together and everyone on the same page while we're going out and building in these areas.
Alejandro Piñero:
It's going to be a joint effort of collaboration to connect everyone. It can't just be one.
Vincent Cioci:
Absolutely.
Alejandro Piñero:
Excellent. Well, listen, Vincent, I know you got to run to your session. We appreciate your support of the event and your team being out here and we wish you success.
Vincent Cioci:
Thank you so much.
Alejandro Piñero:
All right.