washington d.c. >> of additional video as well. >> there is an opportunity right before you. the question is, are you prepared to seize it? hundreds of thousands of louie's across our state critical services, education, jobs and family remain frustratingly out of reach. because they do not have a way to connect. the good news is, the funds are now available bringing digital access to everyone. what is missing? you. we need thousands of individuals who are ready to help build the crucial broadband infrastructure that our state needs. so with pay and benefit you can

grow your future on. a rewarding career is on the ordinary directly contribute to the advancement of our beloved state, louisiana. are you ready for change? find your career at broadband nation.org. >> david, welcome. the ceo of tia not only broadband but broadband deployment, broadband is really trying to come with a solution on a critical issue. we have all of the funding private and public that we have never had to connect every american. the question is, do we have the workforce? where's the problem you are trying to solve and how are you trying to solve it?

>> first of all thank you for having me. i really appreciate it. we have a big issue across the country course from $100 billion or more state and federal money to build out broadband that is on top of all the private networks that have been built and are being built in the satellite world across the country as well. but we have a workforce issue to the tune of maybe 200,000 people eight shortage in that range to build out broadband in the next four -- five years. the bead program that is the duration of the bead program. with aging out, look at my gray hair and aging out of the broadband industry. more than a quarter of the industry is over age 55. for every nine -- one of our major partner says to list every nine job openings they have they get one application.

and what we have seen for every five people leaving the industry only one is coming in. so we have a real issue that needs to be solved if these networks are going to be built. >> tell us, what kind of job are you talking about? >> so what we have been focusing on first are the construction, the splicing, the tech jobs, in the field jobs, the tower climbers, the network engineering jobs. things of that sort initially. those are the major shortages we have seen. so we decided after speaking last summer we spent our with his team as well as to build a program to attract, train, deliver to fill those jobs that are needed across the country and every state and territory. most in a rural america that's already struggling finding good

jobs. >> are you doing that? >> what we have decided to do is two things. first is create a very innovative portal and online portal working with every state that is our intention to build state specific as well as looking at things of a national perspective the intent is first to attract. there's a lot of job boards out there and workforce development efforts. but there is nothing that brings it all together that attracts, trains, delivers the same sites. what we are going to do is using social media and gauche of the places where these candidates might be. these are a lot of outdoor jobs might be jobs for veterans, jobs for people who like doing things outside to live go to the outdoor sites where they are and we will advertise broadband nation on those sites, attract them to the site they can learn

about the jobs. they can understand a day in the life of a fiber splicer in topeka for example they might learn about what a career looks like because the industry is aging out yet at the same time growing these are not just short-term jobs these are long-term careers. it's not the oil pipeline 10 years ago was a goldrush for a couple of years and then it's gone. no, these are long-term careers. once they come to the sites they learned more about the job and about the careers, the career paths we will link to community colleges in that states. somebody can say i am in this part of the country where diego get trained? you can go on the sites learn about committee college and other training programs that are there and thirdly where to go to get a job locally? we can then a link to the jobs that are available in that local area attract, train, deliver all the same location.

>> how much does a fiber splicer a young man, woman or to go into that career, what is the average salary or income they could expect? >> first about these are careers you can start you do not need a four-year degree. we obviously would traits issue in america as well tomb and people think they have to go to college they come out of college think of the world was at their feet nothing against being a beretta step but they end up being a burst out. we need people who understand the importance of trade in america that is a big part of what this does. we work with the largest workforce publicly traded has over 30,000 people they work in most states around the country fiber, wireless and build outs other types of infrastructure. they will tell you the people are starting in the mid- 20s

per our soup 24 -- 28 per our with a five year period of time there over $100,000 because they want to become a manager. >> what is the role that encompass other organizations federal, state, local, the bead program. how can we plug into what you are doing? do you have curriculum you have developed? i talked to our member companies especially fiber, wireless and those deploying to networks. all of them face a workforce shortage. there is a big challenge if we connect every american can we find a workforce to do it? how do we plug-in? >> we have were not trying to re-create the wheel just bring everybody together and solve this problem. i call it a mission for america i was in the marine corps it's all about mission i am all about

mission. this is really, really important. we have been work with encompass the other trade associations those who have trading programs to bring them into the site make a marriage between community colleges that don't have programs and want one. were not going to tell them what to do at this point were not trying to create a new standard we are trying to make more and more training. big 10 approach we will eventually move into things like cyber security and data centers and things of that sort as well these first five or six job categories are the initial shortage that need to be filled. we have been talking to encompass an wia and fiber broadband association all of the others and bring them into our program, all very supportive. at some point maybe there will be a need for standardization but that is not phase i. phase one is to get training programs available in every

state across the country that meet the needs of the service providers that will be hiring people. >> as we talked to alan talk about on the spectrum how do you have in all of government strategy? on our workforce deeds it's in all of government but it's very importantly all of industry you laid out the industry associations of broadband industry and how do we come together to get a common need in the common objective hopefully a curriculum that we can replicate all to the country and work together to achieve this. i really appreciate your leadership in developing it. do you have the resources to pull this off? >> always a challenge. we are hoping this states will be big supporters of this as we develop state specific pages and

described louisiana at work at the number of other states already. we intend to go live it next month with the portals and as time goes on add more and more states but will have a national level live will have a few states already filled out if you will with state specific pages and community colleges listed. that's a big effort to talk to 20 community colleges in every state. we are hoping that's a big piece of it and thirdly we are hosting an expo the first debate next october here in d.c. a big part of the expo will beat train the trainer of the overall program. >> a portion can go to workforce? >> that's right big. >> they. >> that's a big deal. we are not looking for huge money this is privately funded we are a nonprofit it is a privately funded program we are hoping to get every state and the largest service providers.

>> any of you represent infrastructure companies in the workforce i hope you look up tia the portal work with dave and his team. he asked a tremendous team that works with him. this is a needed admission. we appreciate that as a former marine you are at the tip of the spear and we really appreciate this critical work and would love to work and partner with the going forward. >> thank you, appreciate it. [applause]