OSU Wranglers Triumph in the Fall 2025 Broadband Equity Challenge

Winning Team - OSU Wrangler's Varshith Korukonda Presenting @ the Fall 2025 Interactive Case Competition - Broadband Equity Challenge

MAMARONECK, NY — In a groundbreaking debut, an Oklahoma State University team clinched victory in the Fall 2025 Interactive Case Competition: Broadband Equity Challenge. Five graduate students of the OSU Wranglers team impressed a Judges Panel and took home a first-place prize of $5,000 by presenting an AI-driven approach to increasing broadband adoption in their state.

The competition, focused on addressing real-world challenges in broadband accessibility,

brought together strong teams from universities nationwide, including California State University–East Bay, the University of Colorado Boulder, and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The teams were tasked with developing actionable solutions to expand broadband access in underserved and unserved communities. “We built a ground-up, sustainable model that leveraged machine learning to identify high-

potential locations and used AI-driven segmentation and bundled offerings to effectively reach diverse populations,” said Sandeep Maharshi Yallabandi, an OSU team member.

AI Innovation at the Core

One of the judges, Tom McLaughlin, CEO of ATX Networks, told the team,

“It was impressive how you used AI to get after the pervasive blockers to adoption by identifying the target demographic and, coupled with building the marketing plan, you targeted specific drivers for each of the target demos – what would actually motivate them.”

Other judges included Shivani Srivastava, VP of Marketing Transformation, Charter Communications/Spectrum, and Zenita Henderson, veteran marketing and tech leader. The finals event on November 20 was hosted live online by Craig Leddy, founder of the Interactive Case Competition program.

Those Who Made It Possible

The student teams spent the semester learning about broadband, the Digital Divide and

government funding, aided by executive mentors and educational webinars. This year’s

competition program was sponsored by Spectrum,  Mediacom Communications, ATX Networks, NCTA - The Internet & Television Association, Power & Tel and Syndeo Institute at The Cable Center.

Now in its 15th year, the Interactive Case Competition, produced exclusively by Interactive TV Works, Inc., has helped to educate more than 500 students, over 50% of whom work in media and technology fields today. The continued success of the program is due to the pivotal support of sponsors and volunteer judges and mentors.

To participate in the 2026 competition program, visit www.interactivetvworks.com or

contact us.

To know more about OSU's case solution and the team, check out this BLOG from OSU Spears School of Business.

Contacts: Craig Leddy, Interactive TV Works, cleddy@interactivetvworks.com;

Wanita Niehaus, PowerHaus Consultants, wanita.niehaus@gmail.com

About Interactive TV Works, Inc. and Interactive Case Competition

Interactive TV Works, Inc. is an independent consultancy dedicated to promoting an understanding of advanced media technologies and services. Based outside of New York City, its signature event is the twice-annual Interactive Case Competition.