The broadband industry is in an unprecedented era of growth, with more fiber expected to be deployed over the next five years than has been previously deployed in its entire history. With hundreds of billions of dollars in public and private funding flowing into network construction and funding requirements to build and light up networks on schedule, being able to properly manage the two keys to production: supply chain and workforce, are essential.
#1: Control of the supply chain is more critical than ever before
As the market moves from homes passed to homes connected as a metric of success, the need for companies to better manage and integrate their supply chain and own their manufacturing processes will escalate, creating more opportunity for companies that do this well and challenges for companies that cannot. In the public sector, meeting or beating schedule is vital for continued federal and state funding with cost overruns and delays posing significant headaches for all stakeholders and in the worst-case scenario potentially resulting in defunding of the project and reassignment to another firm. Being able to rapidly turn up homes keeps all stakeholders happy in both public and privately funded networks, with Wall Street’s gold standard of success being homes connected (generating revenue) over homes passed which do not add to the bottom line.
U.S. firms which once casually imported raw materials and subcomponents without worry are now critically reexamining and reworking their relationships by diversifying from single-source to multiple vendors at a minimum and starting to “onshore” and/or bring critical production in-house, depending on the item.
#2: New technologies to speed time to market are essential
Any technology that breaks the status quo for how fiber broadband services are delivered should and must be adopted, especially those that enable operators to streamline the deployment process and accelerate time to market. Speed to turning up homes enables network operators to generate revenue more quickly, making public and private shareholders alike happy.
While once controversial, microtrenching is moving into wider use as a rapid deployment method for fiber, but there is still plenty of work to be done on educating the industry on the advances made and experience gained over the past decade. The larger battle today is working through local and state bodies to change regulation and enable such practices to be commonplace rather than selective.
With skilled labor at a premium, finding workforce efficiencies through labor-lite solutions is the path more operators are taking. Such craft-friendly solutions have been found to cut up to 50 percent off the time to turn up a household or business, enabling technicians to add one or two new installations per day – speed that turns homes passed into more homes generating revenue per month.
#3: Workforce development will be a fatal flaw or a golden asset for companies
While labor-lite solutions are great for reducing the time required to install, they don’t fully address the shortage of trained fiber technicians. We will see workforce development become the Achilles heel for organizations that don’t address this issue for all levels of fiber broadband networks – from deployment to CRM – this is not an opportunity where “if we build it, they will come.” This is something that the company must address, or they risk failure because the trained and skilled workers simply are not available to do the jobs necessary to build, operate, and maintain both the physical connectivity and the back-office systems needed. Service providers, whether they are “public” entities such as co-ops and municipality-operated entities, or for-profit businesses that need to pay the bills and make a profit, must make workforce development a priority.
Last year, the telecommunications industry recognized the growing workforce gap between trained technicians and new positions being generated over the next five years through the investment of public and private funds into new and expanded fiber and wireless networks. In some positions, federal and state governments are competing with the private sector for project managers and administrators as states gear up to spend $42.5 billion in BEAD funding over the next five years.
The federal government recognizes the telecommunications skills gap and is investing both federal dollars and fostering partnerships with non-profit trade associations such as the Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) and the Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA) to advance critical workforce education and training for the broadband communications industry. Promoting and expanding registered apprenticeships and training programs such as the FBA’s Optical Telecom Installer Certification (OpTIC Path™) program for training fiber technicians will help fill the need for the workforce of tomorrow, as the structured training curriculum is made available nationwide through community colleges and trade schools.
#4: Increased efforts in workforce development will be long-lasting for both businesses and society
Companies that take an active approach to workforce development will benefit not only from their ability to help them realize the current market opportunity, but also create a generational impact on those they help train to be a part of the fiber broadband industry. The creation of high-quality well-paying skill jobs necessary to build, maintain, and sustain the telecommunications infrastructure for decades to come will deliver benefits far beyond the ability to scale, but have long-term economic impacts on individuals, families, and communities. Creating these opportunities provides additional ways to address disparities beyond basic connectivity by bringing in underrepresented populations into the technology ecosystem, providing good paying jobs and improving the tax basis in the communities where they live and work.
Summary
As worldwide supply chain issues shift back to pre-pandemic normal, broadband providers are not going back to business as usual but preparing for a boom in construction over the next five years. To be successful in this “rising tide” environment will require providers and suppliers alike to continue to actively manage their supply chains. Investment in technology to increase the speed of fiber deployment is a must as is continued investment in workforce development.
Firms should view workforce development as a long-term investment not only in their own personnel but also as a benefit to society by creating well-paying skill jobs that will benefit underrepresented populations and the communities where they live and work.
