Bipartisan telecom workforce bill cosponsored by Moran, Wicker

U.S. Sens. Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Roger Wicker (R-MS) on Tuesday introduced bipartisan legislation to address the workforce needs of the nation’s telecommunications industry.

“Substantial skill and labor will be required to build out and maintain next-generation broadband networks,” Sen. Wicker said. “This legislation would identify the necessary resources to improve 5G workforce readiness.” 

The Telecommunications Skilled Workforce Act, S. 163, which the lawmakers cosponsored with fellow members of the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee — U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-SD), Jon Tester (D-MT), and Gary Peters (D-MI) — would establish an interagency working group led by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) tasked with developing recommendations to tackle the telecom industry’s workforce needs.

“As our country continues to work towards providing high-speed broadband connectivity to all parts of the country, including the deployment of 5G mobile broadband, there is a growing demand for a skilled workforce that would support this effort,” said Sen. Moran, adding that the bill would “help bridge the digital divide in rural areas like those in Kansas, but would also work to increase the number of well-paying jobs in the economy, supporting our rural workforce in the wake of this pandemic.”

If enacted, S. 163 also would require the FCC, in consultation with the U.S. Department of Labor, to issue guidance on how states might contribute to the efforts by identifying all of the federal resources currently available to them that can be used for workforce development efforts.

Additionally, the legislation would direct the Government Accountability Office to conduct a study to determine the exact number of skilled telecom workers needed to build and maintain broadband infrastructure in rural areas and the 5G wireless infrastructure needed to support 5G wireless technology.

“As our country moves quickly toward full-scale deployment of 5G, addressing the needs of our nation’s telecommunications workforce is a critical step to realizing the promise of this technology,” Sen. Wicker said. 

The measure is supported by NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association, the Wireless Infrastructure Association, the Rural Broadband Association, USTelecom, CTIA, and the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association.