Labor

The Fiber Broadband Association and NCTI unveiled the results of a joint workforce preparedness survey. The findings have been published in a paper titled, “Employer Workforce Preparedness in the Fiber Broadband Industry: How Build-Ready are We?” highlight the proactive steps many broadband service providers are taking to ensure a robust and skilled fiber-optic workforce. Key findings from the survey include:

Gigapower, the open-access fiber network joint venture launched by AT&T and BlackRock in May 2023, is experiencing significant challenges in its phase I deployment. Gigapower’s prime contractor in several states, Tilson Technology Management, blamed Gigapower for driving it into bankruptcy, a development that is just the most extreme of numerous problems stemming from Gigapower’s business model. The Communications Workers of America, which represents tens of thousands of frontline technicians at AT&T, has closely tracked the Gigapower build-out in various markets.

The Vermont Community Broadband Board is sponsoring a new session of its Broadband Technician Apprenticeship/Pre-Apprenticeship Training in partnership with North Country Career Center. It will be comprehensive training for an entry level broadband network technician. The three-week course will be offered in Montpelier starting September 17, 2025, and is available to participants at no cost. This is the fourth session of the training and is scheduled as Vermont is ready to make the final push on the state’s broadband buildout.

In the next job market downturn—whether it's already starting or years away—there just might be a bloodbath

In 2021, Congress passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which included $42.45 billion committed to the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program.

The Federal Communications Commission approved Skydance’s $8 billion acquisition of Paramount Global and its subsidiaries, including the ultimate parent company of the CBS network of owned and operated broadcast television stations, by granting a series of applications that transfer FCC licenses and authorizations.

This study aims to systematically evaluate how the urban digital economy influences the decision-making process of labor migration across regions. By matching individual migration data of intercity movements during 2012–2016 from the China Migrants Dynamic Survey conducted between 2013 and 2017 with the urban digital economy level and incorporating sampling data from the 2010 and 2015 population censuses, we construct a bidirectional flow analysis framework to identify the transmission pathways through which the urban digital economy influences population reallocation.

T-Mobile is the latest in a string of corporations to retreat from their diversity, equity and inclusion programs while the Federal Communications Commission reviews the companies’ proposed mergers or acquisitions.

T-Mobile is ending its diversity, equity, and inclusion programs to get two big deals OK’d by regulators. In a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, T-Mobile said it will end its DEI programs as it seeks regulatory approval for its UScellular and MetroNet transactions.

 It is time to unleash new growth and opportunity.  It is time to build.  And that is what I am here today—to outline my vision for doing just that through the Federal Communications Commission’s Build America Agenda. Our Build America Agenda will focus on delivering on a number of core objectives.  We will unleash high-speed infrastructure builds.  We will restore America’s leadership in wireless.  We will boost the U.S. space economy.  We will advance our national security.  And we will strengthen America’s tower and telecom workforce.