Today at the Fiber Connect 2021 conference in Nashville, TN, the Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) announced its Optical Telecom Installation Certification (OpTIC) program. FBA said new program features a curriculum designed by top experts in the fiber community, and is intended to quickly scale technical education, fill the existing fiber skills gap, and accelerate fiber deployments across North America.
As observed by FBA:
The demand on service providers and communities to build better broadband networks continues to increase. The pandemic highlighted the need for speeds to support bandwidth-straining remote work and education, telehealth and streaming entertainment. The best option to deliver this capacity is fiber because it delivers the best performance in speed and reliability than any other type of broadband technology.
However, there is a shortage of qualified fiber workers which creates a tall hurdle in deploying fiber in many regions of North America.
In response to this challenge, the new program will be offered nationwide through vocational schools, community colleges and veteran training programs.
“The Fiber Broadband Association is responding to the needs of service providers in anticipation of the U.S. government’s infrastructure plan to dedicate $65 billion on broadband build-outs across the nation,” said Mark Boxer, FBA Board Member, lead for FBA training and certification program and Technical Manager, Solutions and Applications Engineering at OFS. “We are addressing the fiber workforce shortage with the OpTIC program, providing relevant training to equip workers with the knowledge and skills needed to build fiber networks.”
According to an FB statement, Wilson Community College in Wilson, N.C., will be the first to pilot the OpTIC, curriculum, consisting of 144 hours of combined class and lab courses followed by a 2,000-hour apprenticeship that is fully approved and recognized by the U.S. Department of Labor. The Fiber Broadband Association and its OpTICS apprenticeship program is recognized by the U.S. Department of Labor as a National Program sponsor, eligible for state and federal grants.
FBA said the program "will include technical content for today’s fiber technician as well as plenty of hands-on practice, with the goal of compressing the time needed to equip them to be safe and productive in the field." Participants that complete the program will be certified as an FBA Accredited OpTIC Technician.
“Wilson was North Carolina’s first Gigabit city and is now home to many advanced workforce training programs that are focused on fiber optics,” asserted Gene Scott, General Manager of Outside Plant at Greenlight Community Broadband, and chair of the FBA education subcommittee. “We are thrilled to be associated with the first school to offer the FBA’s OpTIC program. The citizens of Wilson understand that fiber technology has the ability to change lives by bringing economic and quality of life opportunities to the communities that can access it.”
“The need for a highly-trained fiber workforce has never been greater, so we’re thrilled to launch a certification program that will be extremely valuable to the industry,” said Deborah Kish, Vice President of Research and Marketing at the Fiber Broadband Association.
Kish concluded, “We expect the OpTIC program to be recognized across North America as the gold standard among training programs directed at developing highly competent fiber splicers, premise installers and technicians that are required for today’s fiber deployments. Moreover, this certification program will help create jobs across North America and ensure all broadband deployments are fiber first.”
To learn more about the FBA’s OpTIC program, visit https://www.fiberbroadband.org/certification.