Closing the Digital Divide Requires an Expanded, Skilled Workforce

The race to close the digital divide requires lots of workers to get the job done sooner rather than later. Many positions in fiber network construction require a particular skill set for workers to be job-ready and minimize mistakes. The skills are specific and often learned through some form of on-the-job training, of which there are currently a few. The Fiber Broadband Association's Optical Telecom Installation Certification (OpTIC) program is a curriculum designed by leading experts in the fiber community to quickly scale technical education, fill the existing fiber skills gap and accelerate fiber deployments across North America, launched in July 2021. One of the longest operating courses was developed by the Fiber Optics Association (FOA); the FOA is a nonprofit organization chartered to promote professionalism in fiber optics through education, certification and standards. Like the OpTIC program, the FOA doesn’t provide classes but instead offers its training course to about 200 affiliated schools in 40 countries, and both are approved by the US Department of Labor. Whether certification comes from one curriculum or another, fiber workforce recruiters will likely agree that more training options are good – if they implement accepted industry standards and best practices. Beyond training, what's needed to build and maintain the fiber workforce are competitive wages, excellent work culture, and worker awareness of how the industry is booming.

[Bruce Forey is the founder of the BroadMax Group.]