The tower industry gathered together Tuesday night in Washington, D.C. to honor those who have helped increase opportunities for wireless infrastructure workers across the country. The night started off with the 400-plus in attendance viewing a new video about TIRAP, a nationwide apprenticeship program with the participation of 27 employers and over 2,000 apprentices.
Tilson CEO Josh Broder, interviewed in the film, said there is a 20,000 tech shortfall in bringing new systems to the marketplace and “the only way to make up for that is to bring in new people and train from the ground up.”
Fellow CEO, Joel Hightower of Hightower Communications said, “The installation of 5G is so much more complex than what it was. TIRAP is the missing piece we’ve been looking for,” he said.
The $400,000 in proceeds from the WIA-hosted event will go toward TIRAP, and WIA’s Telecommunications Education Center (TEC), a technical skills training program.
“5G will transform virtually every industry in the country and drive massive economic growth – in fact, a half a trillion a year in economic activity,” said WIA President and CEO Jonathan Adelstein as he opened the ceremony. “That means the whole country is depending on us – the people and companies represented here tonight – to get this done, get it done right, and get it done fast. If we don’t have the workforce trained with the skills we need, we can’t win the global race to lead in 5G.”
October 3, 2019
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