The $7.2 billion to be paid out to companies that plan to expand the nation’s broadband access isn’t just about tossing funds to private and public organizations to lay fiber or place wireless towers — it’s about job creation. This was brought home to me during an interview with Jeff Thompson, CEO of Towerstream, a fixed WiMAX provider that hopes to take advantage of broadband stimulus grants to build out wireless networks in more areas of the country.
Along the way, Thompson hopes to rehire some of the 34 people he’s had to lay off in the last few months since the economy has soured. Towerstream, which currently employs 150 people, provides last-mile WiMAX-based service in nine markets. Thompson hopes to expand into new markets with the aid of some stimulus money, but declined to detail his plans, citing competitive concerns. However, once Towerstream’s applications are in, they will become public. In the meantime, I was struck by Thompson’s focus on new jobs during our conversation, since I have been viewing this legislation mostly for its potential to boost broadband in rural and underserved areas. In my haste to write about speeds and technology, I’ve neglected to consider how many jobs are created, a criterion in the grant process. The rules associated with applying for a grant mention job creation on 15 different pages.
The main purpose of the legislation is job creation. He is probably talking it up so he has a better chance at getting the funding. It can create temporary new jobs for laying down fiber and installing equipment, but once that is done, no more work is needed. It doesn’t create new consistent job growth on its own, just temporary. After that, the hope is the new faster internet can lead to innovation and opportunities to those in rural areas. The problem now is that the definition in the NOFA defines broadband as half a t-1 which is too low to define as broadband in my opinion.
As they build out infrastructure and gain new customers they’ll need more people for things like support, sales, installations, engineering, etc as well. It may only immediately create temp jobs, but those temps could be moved into installation or network management positions instead.
“I’ve neglected to consider how many jobs are created”
Neglected to consider, or not paying attention to what Blair Levin has been saying over the past 6 months?
It just wasn’t as big a focus for me as the ideal of faster broadband.
If you’re going to get on the soap box and play the Holier-Than-Thou card when it comes to talking about policy, perhaps a bit more than a drive-by/shoot-from-the-hip effort might be nice?
The legislation was definitely for job creation and he absolutely had to trumpet that as part of the effort to get hands on some of it. If jobs really are they key, getting back SOME of the 34 jobs isn’t viable. As already stated, any jobs created would be temporary.
“Towerstream, which currently employs 150 people…”? I would check that number, it is far below that.
What’s being said is that jobs are going to have to be short term extremely high paying or long term life sustaining. These jobs are good examples of what are NOT going to work. Lets all go out and move around the country, not be home, not have a long term residency, and be subjected to the elements and labor. Great for young high school grads for a year off or summer breaks. So is a combine crew and trucking. Neither listed as the top 25 desired jobs.