Wireless industry leaders gathered at the White House on Wednesday to meet with representatives from the federal Office of Science and Technology Policy, the White House National Economic Council, the White House Chief Technology Office, the Department of Labor, the Veterans Administration, the Department of Defense and the Federal Communications Commission.
The topic of discussion was the wireless workforce. Carriers, equipment makers, infrastructure service providers and contractors joined government leaders to discuss ways that training can expand and improve the wireless workforce.
“Our goal is to improve the proficiency of every aspect of the skilled workforce that builds, upgrades and maintains wireless broadband infrastructure,” said Jonathan Adelstein, president and CEO of wireless trade group PCIA. “We are gathering at the White House to collaborate and join forces, so that the wireless industry can meet the complex challenges of fulfilling the exploding consumer demand for mobile data.”
Conference speakers also included Scott Kisting, a wireless industry veteran who now chairs the Telecommunications Workforce Training Apprenticeship Program, and Kelley Dunne of Warriors 4 Wireless.
Funding in place
The Department of Labor has awarded more than $5.7 million for wireless training programs, including $750,000 to help PCIA establish curricula for wireless training. The grant comes through the Department of Labor’s trade adjustment assistance community college and career training grant program.
PCIA has partnered with Virginia State University, Texas A&M University and South Carolina’s Aiken Technical College to create curricula and to focus on bringing veterans into the wireless workforce. The White House has said that 250,000 veterans are coming out of the Department of Defense each year, and that many of them are likely to be well suited for wireless.
“They are fit, they are motivated, they are kinetic, they are trained,” said Rosye Cloud, senior adviser for veteran employment at the Department of Veterans Affairs, speaking about veterans earlier this year at PCIA. “This generation has received some of the best training of all wartime forces. Once they connect to employment, regardless of age, they outperform the general population.”
The industry needs trained, safety-conscious tower climbers, and it also needs RF engineers. Adelstein would like to see universities offer a Bachelor of Science in RF engineering. The basic wireless coursework at Aiken Technical and Virginia State can be completed in eight weeks, and students have the option of returning for more at a later date if they want to work toward a degree.
Adelstein, a former FCC commissioner, said the Obama administration is well aware of the important role that the wireless industry will play in the nation’s economic future, and recognizes that wireless infrastructure is “crucial to virtually every other industry in the U.S.”
“The administration understands the role of broadband in creating jobs and economic development, along with improved opportunities for education, health care and so much more,” he said. “America’s connected economy will only succeed if we continue to meet that demand. And we cannot meet future demand without a properly trained and defined workforce.”
