For all the government funding being poured into closing the U.S.’s digital divide, the industry that builds and maintains the internet is in desperate need of technicians to actually make it happen.
Depending on the employer, the trade can pay well, and it quickly opens avenues for even more lucrative specializations and career advancements. But jobs specs aside, it is a unique time for new folks to be taking up the trade.
Because the grim reality is while billions of dollars are being funneled into building out new networks through the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program, the main means to help people pay for it — the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) — has ended due to a lack of congressional funding.
This means millions of citizens are losing low-cost internet access. So, while the next five years are sure to be full of new network buildouts in unconnected areas, the communities who need the service being able to actually afford it is another story.
Plenty of States are scrambling to find replacements, including leftover funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) or from the Capital Projects Fund (CPF). But the outlook for any meaningful long-term replacement remains uncertain.
The workforce shortage, combined with this massive deployment funding still lacking stable financial assistance for consumers, creates a tricky turbulence in the fight to close the digital divide.
This is one area where incoming broadband technicians may be able to — albeit slowly and collectively — improve the outlook for people. Every new technician won’t just be helping new families get connected, they may also be contributing to a larger economic cause and effect, shifting end prices down.
Worker shortage + no ACP = higher internet costs
The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) estimated at least 200,000 jobs are needed to see BEAD funding’s vision properly play out.
“With any labor shortage is going to come with an increase in cost,” said Jenny Miller, Director of Government Affairs at EducationSuperHighway.
During MountainConnect, an industry event held in August, Miller spoke to the trickle-down impact that the workforce shortage has on consumer internet prices. With a scarcity of technicians, both for installation and maintenance, service providers are faced with higher operational costs.
This can be particularly burdensome on smaller providers — which is where a lot (but not all) of the unconnected and underserved populations are. And where it is most burdensome, it is most likely to result in higher service prices.
“Because with labor: there's not enough to go around, increases in cost lead to more difficulties in affordability,” Miller continued. In this expansion-hungry era of BEAD, companies are looking to take advantage of the deployment funding and deliver their services to new areas.
As Sonya Cheeseborough, a longtime sales veteran of the industry, explained to us in an interview, “We're moving fast, but sometimes we move a little bit too fast in the sales world.”
But without additional technicians, not only does it raise their operational costs to expand, it also spreads the current workforce thin — increasing the likelihood of errors, burnout and turnover. Those errors can also put additional financial pressures on the providers.
This all ends up falling onto the population that BEAD funding is ultimately meant to serve — unconnected communities.
While some states may have leftover BEAD funding and opportunities to fill in for the ACP, others may not have enough funding. Unavoidably, there will be circumstances where affordability will still fall into the hands of internet service providers.
But a skilled workforce could be on the horizon. A rise continues in people (especially younger generations) looking to trade professions in lieu of pricey university educations. Scarcity of workers, especially since the pandemic, is further driving wage increases across many of these industries. And in general, many trades are offering good, stable pay with no degree required upon entry.
Broadband technician work is no exception. Not only do they bring an essential service to people, like an electrician or plumber, but they could also be contributing to changing economic winds that help low-income people most in need of internet connection.
Technicians talk impact on community
Even before the BEAD era, connecting people has always been the center of the job for these technicians.
One tech and industry veteran, Keith Busby, said, “People come out, and they're just happy to see you, happy to know that you're out there working and that you're hooking their services back up." Some go so far as to offer food, money and random gifts of gratitude, he added.
“You feel really good about what you're doing for the community," another experienced technician and instructor Brian Schrand told us.
And that gratitude only grows during crises and natural disasters. Schrand recalled a time when a hurricane swept through Florida and wiped out numerous broadband infrastructures.
“We would get on a plane with all of our tools and fly to Florida and start building a network,” he recollected. “And since we were all educated to the same standard, we built networks for all these people that lost everything. To me, there’s no job more rewarding than that.”
Across homeowners, local businesses, schools and Tribal communities, the trade already innately serves public welfare, and it will continue to keep people connected. But with the current workforce shortage and the ACP struggling, new technicians may also be helping people afford to stay connected — at least until larger support systems can find renewed strength.
Interested in learning more about the broadband technician trade? Explore training, job opportunities and more.