UPDATE FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr praised the news that Southeast Technical Institute and VIKOR Teleconstruction are partnering on a Wireless Infrastructure Technician Certification program in South Dakota.
“This new tower tech program at Southeast Tech in South Dakota notches another solid win in our effort to expand America’s 5G workforce,” said Carr, who’s climbed several towers with VIKOR technicians. The Commissioner spoke at Southeast Tech earlier this year in support of a tower tech program.
The Commissioner announced a jobs initiative to expand the 5G workforce earlier this year. “Industry estimates that it needs to fill another 20,000 job openings for tower climbers and telecom techs to complete this country’s 5G build, which would nearly double the size of this group of skilled workers,” said Carr.
His plan looks to community colleges and technical schools as pipelines to these 5G jobs. “In just a matter of months, these programs can take someone with virtually no training, teach them the mix of classroom and physical skills necessary to build and install new cell sites, and enable them to land a good-paying job in the tower industry,” explained Carr. He’s been working to expand the number of available programs nationwide.
Of the Southeast Tech-VIKOR program, he said: “There’s no doubt this program will provide opportunities for the next generation of tower techs and for entire communities who will be brought into the 5G future.”
October 17, 2019
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