Montana has close to a billion dollars to expand high-speed broadband internet to all corners of the state. A new program beginning this fall at community colleges across western Montana will help grow the workforce needed for the effort.
Around twenty percent of Montana lacks reliable access to high speed internet. While the state is marshaling hundreds of millions of federal grant dollars to expand broadband service, it lacks the workers needed to lay fiber optic cables.
A new training program providing fast-track certifications in broadband installation will start this fall. Bernie Phelps is an administrator overseeing the program at Highlands Community College in Butte.
“We’ve got this workforce shortage. We’ve got huge amounts of money but not a lot of it’s directed at workforce training,” said Phelps.
The new certification program will be centered at Highlands College and offer instruction at schools on the Flathead Reservation and in Missoula.
The program will pair certification in broadband installation work with job shadowing offered by local unions and telecommunications companies. Phelps says the program will help meet an important workforce need and provide good paying jobs for participants.
“I really see it as a training that will, not only change an individual, but a family and their communities,” Phelps said.
The training program will begin this fall. It is set to run for four years.