Charter on a hiring push in Missouri, amid effort to expand rural broadband

Jul 08, 2023

"Double check to make sure your groundings are tight," said Technician and Safety Trainer Will Jones, center, to trainee Otis McCluer, front right, while inspecting his cable installation at the Charter Spectrum training center on May, 11, 2023, in St. Ann.

ST. ANN — On a recent morning outside the Charter Communications office in St. Ann, a group of trainees in hard hats and reflective vests practiced placing hooks in a small forest of mock telephone poles.

Rain pattered down as they worked, but Safety and Training Supervisor Shaun Swearengen was still planning to teach pole climbing in the afternoon. It's true to the real-life conditions: Field technicians have to work in all sorts of weather.

"As long as we don't see lightning," he said, glancing upward.

Trainee Antonio Neto practices an aerial cable installation at the Charter Spectrum training center on May, 11, 2023, in St. Ann. New hires are given 14 weeks of training to learn the skills required to work as field technicians.

The trainees are part of a hiring push at Charter, as telecommunications companies carry out a six-year program to bring access to television, mobile and phone connections into hard-to-reach, rural areas.

It started a couple of years ago, after the Federal Communications Commission launched a new effort to close gaps in broadband access: The Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, or RDOF, which subsidizes telecommunications companies to build their networks out into rural areas.

Parts of rural Missouri have struggled for years with spotty access to broadband, which can be an obstacle for businesses, and limits telemedicine use in areas that are already farthest from medical providers and specialists. Those challenges became more pronounced during the COVID-19 pandemic, as some schools became more reliant on virtual learning.

Charter plans to spend over $248 million in Missouri, related to the RDOF program, said Matt Brown, construction vice president for the region. Of that amount, Charter will pay for about $200 million, and $48 million will come from RDOF.

In the greater St. Louis region, Brown said, Charter is working in Jefferson, Lincoln, Montgomery, Pike, Ste. Genevieve, St. Charles, St. Francois and Warren counties. At times, Brown said, it's laying fiber in areas where there are fewer than 10 homes in a mile. The company said it aims to bring service to more than 61,000 homes and small businesses in the state through the RDOF program.

When the program began, Charter created a group to focus on building out the network into new areas, and promoted people through the ranks. Then the company needed a team of people prepared to finish the final step of bringing the newly-placed broadband into homes, so it started hiring more field technicians — the people responsible for going to customers’ houses to install connections for landlines, internet and cable.

Trainee Otis McCluer works on a wall plate during a cable installation at the Charter Spectrum training center on May, 11, 2023, in St. Ann, where new hires practice how to go to customers houses to install connections for landlines, internet and cable.

There are no degrees or certifications required to get hired. Wages start at $20 an hour. New employees are given 14 paid weeks of training, a combination of classroom work and hands-on practice with the fake telephone poles and a pair of mock houses at the St. Ann facility.

Since January 2022, the company's St. Louis field operations has added 160 employees. The company said it plans to add more than a dozen more positions to help with rural expansion efforts in the state.

The company now has more than 6,200 employees in the St. Louis area — more than it did before the company moved its headquarters from Town and Country to Stamford, Connecticut.

Trainee Antonio Neto gathers line during a cable installation at the Charter Spectrum training center on May, 11, 2023, in St. Ann. New hires are given 14 weeks of training.

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