The bottom line up front: The broadband construction labor shortage is coming, but it is not inevitable that it derails your BEAD deployment. Operators and engineering firms that plan ahead — completing pre-construction work early, building contractor relationships now, leveraging technology, and investing in regional workforce development — will be positioned to build on schedule
Read MoreWe had designers buried in a backlog they couldn’t escape. Down the hall, permit techs had almost nothing to do. Same company. Same projects. Same deadline pressure. Nobody was sharing resources because nobody was looking at the whole picture. That’s not a workload problem. That’s a structure problem. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking
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As BEAD funding begins to flow, engineering will be the first pressure point. Much of the industry conversation has focused on construction labor and material supply. Those challenges are real. But before construction mobilizes, engineering firms must design, permit, and sequence these networks correctly. If engineering capacity tightens, delays begin long before fiber is placed.
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Firefighters could not safely approach the site. Toxic gas filled the area, visibility was limited, and time mattered. A drone went up instead. Live aerial footage gave responders a clear view of the scene so they could adjust suppression efforts without putting crews in danger. In another response conducted at night, thermal imaging tracked movement
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