Wireless contracting is becoming unprofitable, because of the downward pressure on prices from carriers and others at the top of the supply chain, Todd Schlekeway told the audience at the South Wireless Summit yesterday in Nashville during his keynote address.
“This even goes as far as ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ predetermined matrix pricing, squeezing margins to the breaking point,” the President and CEO of NATE: the Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association, said.
Another burden that is weighing down wireless contractors today is the shifting of liability from customers at the top of the supply chain to wireless contractors.
“Customers at the top of the chain have shifted all responsibility for the safety and vetting of contractors to third parties with an ever-rising bar,” Schlekeway said. “This costs the contractor as they ‘up’ their game to meet the vetting demands. Furthermore, contracts are presented as take-it-or-leave-it and are grossly one-sided.”
Schlekeway warned that safety can be compromised if wireless contractors take shortcuts trying to maintain their margins, because of the costs of executing safety programs and creating a culture of safety. Additionally, workforce retention can suffer as a result of frozen wages caused by low margins.
“Companies folding up shop or switching to more profitable work are hindering deployment efforts to close the digital divide,” Schlekeway said.
There is no quick fix, according to Schlekeway. One remedy for funding, the FCC’s Universal Service Fund, unfortunately, does not trickle down to wireless contractors.
“There is no indication that current infrastructure funding proposals will be beneficial to contractors if the same depressed pricing models are used,” he said.
In summary, Schlekeway said the problem is clients are insisting upon a highly trained workforce but are unwilling to pay for it. NATE is not proposing to set any pricing policies or guidelines, he said. Its mission is to alert stakeholders to the circumstances that are affecting the “tenuous stability” of America’s wireless contractors.
As a matter of course, NATE plans to inform top-tier client and federal agencies of the wireless contractors’ problem and to work with the whole industry to develop solutions. Additionally, the association will work to alert legislators of the issue.
To meet the needs of its members for an expanding workforce, NATE continues to execute its Workforce Strategic Plan, which includes collaborating on training with community colleges and technical institutes, developing curriculum, and promoting tower technical work as a career and reaching out to potential employees.
NATE members will need nearly 14,700 employees over the next three years to do the work needed for the 5G buildout, rural broadband and more, according to NATE’s Key Workforce Survey data. Tower technicians, tower construction and antenna and line workers are in the highest demand, the survey said.
One way of developing the workforce pipeline is to collaborate with community colleges and institutes to train the workers of the future. NATE has developed programs with SE Technical College, SD; Lake Area Technical College, SD; Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology, OK; Northeast Technical College, WI; Wake Technical College, NC; and Aiken Technical College, SC.
Collaborations have been proposed with North Central State College, OH; Vincennes University, IN; and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, MS.
Schlekeway described the Telecommunications Tower Technician I (TTT1) Curriculum Package, which will be designed to meet the needs of a credit program model at two-year community/technical colleges. NATE member company representatives will serve as curriculum advisors, while the colleges adapt the program to meet their local and regional needs.
“The curriculum package will meet program models such as a stackable credit pathway certificate, apprenticeship, a technical diploma and a two-year associate of applied science degree or non-credit program,” Schlekeway said.
The TTT1 turnkey curriculum of courses includes: Introduction to the Telecommunications Industry; Telecommunications Safety and Safe Practices I; Telecommunications Safety and Safe Practices II; Telecommunications Ground Installation Skills; Lines and Antennas Installation Skills; Tower Steel Works Installation Skills; Tower Ground and Tower Maintenance Skills; and National Wireless Safety Alliance (NWSA) Test Preparation.
The volume of NWSA certification assessments continues to grow. As of May 31, the total number of applications was 28,329, total number of tests administered was 25,065, total number of tests passed was 18,411, and total number of certifications issued was 6,136.
At the top of NATE’s legislative and regulatory priorities for 2021 are workforce development, spectrum access, broadband, funding for broadband and workforce, small business issues, worker safety, commercial drones, and network security.
Schlekeway highlighted three bipartisan measures supported by NATE that are currently in the works: the Telecommunications Skilled Workforce Act, sponsored by Sens. John Thune (R-SD); Roger Wicker (R-MS); Jerry Moran (R-KS); Jon Tester (D-MT) and Gary Peters (D-MI); the Improving Minority Participation and Careers in Telecommunications Act (IMPACT Act), sponsored by Wicker (R-MS); Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Tim Scott (R-SC); and the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, sponsored by Sens. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Todd Young (R-IN).
“NATE supports comprehensive infrastructure proposals whose provisions include funding for wireless communications facilities that will significantly expand broadband throughout the United States,” he said. “NATE is also seeking workforce funding provisions in any comprehensive infrastructure package that passes Congress.”
By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor
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