Labor

Whether it’s based on hallucinatory beliefs or not, an artificial-intelligence gold rush has started over the last several months to mine the anticipated business opportunities from generative AI models like ChatGPT. App developers, venture-backed startups, and some of the world’s largest corporations are all scrambling to make sense of the sensational text-generating bot released by OpenAI in November 2022. But while companies and executives see a clear chance to cash in, the likely impact of the technology on workers and the economy, on the whole, is far less obvious.

The Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA) entered a new partnership with Ashland University (OH) to help approximately 140 incarcerated individuals, who are eligible for release within 12 months, prepare for careers in broadband and 5G this spring and summer.

Tonya Felsinger spent more than half her life working in the food service industry. She obtained her GED a few years ago, and her GED teacher and an administrator at Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology (OSUIT) encouraged her to try the school’s new fiber technician training course.

The US Treasury Department awarded Kansas $15 million for digital equity work, with the money going toward public Wi-Fi, digital skills training, and more. In addition, 20 other states have applied for digital equity funding from the same source, with other awards expected to be made soon. “Kansas is just the first of many more to come,” said Joseph Wender director of the Treasury Department's Capital Projects Fund (CPF), which is part of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

The purpose of this study was to analyze the role of remote working enabled by a robust broadband infrastructure. The objective was to find out the effects of remote working on quality of life and in reducing emissions before and during the pandemic. We found broadband-enabled remote working to significantly increase the quality time of workers, defined as the time spent with family members. When higher remote working frequency occurs (three working days and more), the net reduction in emissions seems to prevail.

Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (D-TX) reintroduced the "Broadband Incentives for Communities Act," which creates a grant program to provide local and state governments with the resources to facilitate, modernize, and streamline broadband upgrades and deployment. In order to upgrade and expand broadband infrastructure, local governments work with private wireless companies to build out the necessary technology across communities. This requires these companies to submit zoning and permitting applications, but many wireless technology applications often do not fit the traditional governmental r

One of the broadband products that quietly emerged during the pandemic is a suite of products that enable corporate broadband to safely be used at home. IT directors of large companies were aghast when a large percentage of staff were sent home to work and instantly wanted full access to the same systems and functionality that they used in the office. One of the key linchpins of corporate data security has always been to limit access to corporate networks from outside the physical confines of the office.

Why don't local governments view an internet service provider (ISP) that is going to build a fiber network in the same way that they view other economic development opportunities? Local governments roll out the red carpet for a business that is considering building a factory that will bring jobs, and sometimes offer a cash incentive to coax a new employer to build in the community. These kinds of incentives come from the traditional economic development playbook: new jobs bring prosperity. To be fair, local governments sometimes make concessions to an ISP that is going to build fiber – but

Data from industry analyst Cowen that shows that some of the largest fiber builders in the country have already trimmed back their construction plans for 2023. Do these cuts mean that fiber competition won’t materialize as planned? There have been big external changes affecting the entire industry. Fiber material costs are up, as evidenced by the recent price hike announced by Corning. Prices of fiber components are up across the board for everything from conduit, handholes, drop wires, etc.

Peter Dresslar, a broadband and digital equity consultant for both the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and American Samoa, is of two minds. While he knows that the Federal Communications Commission is working as hard as it can to deliver accurate broadband maps to the country, some of the oversights in the mapping of the Pacific Territories have been darkly comic.