There was no malicious intent on the part of the overbuilder, just inexperienced construction crews. The solution, Black insists, is for the overbuilder to notify cable operators of their construction plans and of any cut cable, and for cable operators to make early contact with overbuilders. I nexperienced construction crews make a strong case for upgraded training programs. Mix in digital audio and video, data services and other new technologies, and the recruiting and training of employees to compete in the competitive new world of overbuilds becomes paramount. Many of these employees, Black says, are coming from local telephone companies.
Experience is really the key for engineers and technicians.
We're hiring a lot of people with telephone industry experience, because as we add local telephone customers, we need people with fundamental knowledge of the cable and telephone businesses. For overbuilder 21st Century in Chicago, a privately-held company which offers cable, Internet access and telephony, the operational challenges of building a cable plant from the ground up are enormous. 21st Century's system, when built out, will serve 350,000 homes passed in two franchise areas in the Chicago market, and 50,000 hotel units with video and phone service. The company launched its service in late 1996 and has 190 employees. For 21st Century, however, its construction, training and other infrastructure disciplines are still in their infancy.