Wi-Fi and Workforce Development
At the end of 2019, the total free Wi-Fi traffic amounted to about 3,437 million gigabytes. The traffic volume is forecast to grow around threefold by 2023. As of the leading Municipal Wi-Fi companies in the nation, creating a localized workforce to help install and maintain our networks, as one of our core tenors over the past ten years.
As municipalities consider ways to close the digital divide and provide the tools for digital inclusion, this offers cities the opportunity to leverage infrastructure build-outs to train those in digital divide zones to install and maintain wireless networks. Cities should not decouple addressing the digital divide and generating localized job opportunities. This is not a novel idea either; Sky Packets has been incorporating localized workforce with local communities and non-profit organizations for years. Sky Packets has collaborated with The Red Hook Initiative, Silicon Harlem, and The New America Foundation, to name a few.
There are several factors to consider when partnering with a local non-profit organization; pedagogy, demographics, funding, size of the infrastructure project, core values, mission, and existing resources are all top of mind.
Not only does it make sense from a workforce development perspective, but it makes business sense. Traditionally, dispatching a technician to fix a network issue requires a "truck roll." The aggregated cost of sending a technician eats in profit margin. The ability to have a local technician fix a problem faster and, potentially, with fewer resources, improves companies' bottom line.
Network infrastructure should not be decoupled with localized workforce development. If you're looking to help design, install, and build a workforce to maintain a municipal Wi-Fi network, reach out. We look forward to building a better digital future together! Click the below link: