A recent report (The Gigapower Gamble: How AT&T and BlackRock are Undermining Broadband Quality, Safety and Jobs in Arizona) from CWA (Communications Workers of America) reports…

In 2023, AT&T announced a 50/50 joint venture with the investment firm BlackRock to form an open-access fiber network company called Gigapower, with AT&T Fiber as the anchor tenant.1 The Communications Workers of America (CWA), which represents the majority of AT&T’s frontline workforce, has closely tracked the Gigapower build-out in several markets.

This report is the first in a series of market spotlights looking at Gigapower’s deployments nationwide, and finds the following:

• Gigapower puts public safety and public assets at risk by improperly vetting the dozens of contractors building its network.

  • ○ Gigapower is using at least 35 contractors on its deployments across nine states.
  • ○ In two cities in particular– Mesa, Arizona and Bloomington, Minnesota Gigapower contractors have been responsible for nearly 450 incidents of damage to the public right of way, and dozens of preventable underground utility hits.

• Gigapower’s workforce model is fraught with exploitative, low-road employment practices.

  • ○ These practices include the use of independent contractors and temporary staffing agencies that do not provide workers safety training or personal protective equipment to build the network.
  • ○ Major Gigapower contractors have track records of labor law and safety violations. 1
  • ○ Gigapower itself does not appear to employ any technicians building the network.

• 3. AT&T’s fiber strategy contributes to the erosion of telecom job quality and stability.

  • ○ AT&T’s aggressive strategy to partner with BlackRock to deploy fiber using networks of nonunion contractors contributes to the financialization of broadband. The short-term focus on profits through outsourcing– or fissuring– of work erodes the quality and stability of family-sustaining telecommunications careers.

Here’s what they say about the project in Bloomington MN…

In an early look into the Bloomington, Minnesota market, in just four months, between April and July 2024, Gigapower and its contractors were cited more than 400 times for damaging the public right of way during deployment. For at least 100 locations across Bloomington, Gigapower contractors were cited multiple times for each location, only weeks apart suggesting that Gigapower was made aware of the citations, but may have failed to respond and rectify the bad quality work in a timely manner.20 In the same timeframe, Gigapower’s contractors in Bloomington hit underground utilities– including gas, water, and electric lines– at least twenty-three (23) times.2

Bloomington, home to the Mall of America, is not rural Minnesota. I can’t say firsthand if the work environment is the same everywhere, but the safety of workers is important everywhere and broadband installation is a traveling job. The article mentions contractors, so it is conceivable that teams working in Bloomington could be stationed to a rural area next.