Thread regarding AT&T layoffs

"It's rarely, if ever cheaper to outsource work to contractors."

It is initially. Say, first contract or so.

Then, after AT&T lets everyone go and are solely relying on contractors to do the work, that's when the real fun begins as the " introductory price " has now expired and you get to see what this is really going to cost you.

Ridiculous any of these switches are a breeze to set up if you have been doing any transport work. CRAN installs are done by a cluster vendor actual turn up of the equipment is done by a mobility field engineer which is a management position backhaul , fronthaul provisioned by CO tech union position.

So you have a CRAN hub in your landline CO. They are putting them in many different locations, hardly accurate to state the landline is running the 5G network. Re; contractors, this is nothing new, especially with build out of a new network. Employees don’t have the requisite skill set as of yet in order to be able to support that buildout at the pace required.

Yep. Had a mobility tech in my Central Office a some weeks ago configuring the Ethernet switch for the C-RAN aka"5G" equipment. (Yes believe it or not, much of the 5G network is going to fed from the "obsolete" landline network).

A week later I see this personal car in the parking lot that I don't recognize. I go to see who is here in the office and I find a guy running fiber jumpers on the same C-Ran shelves. I ask who he is, and if he is working with the mobility tech that was there earlier. He can't answer my questions, as I'm about to escort him out, he says in broken English "I contractor for AT&T" and produces a ID badge.

The F'ed thing is that I had to escort the mobility tech until his access was approved, but this contractor joker cruised right in.

Good times ahead. This was in the SW region.

Our region is bringing in quite a bit of capital and growth work in house on Mobility tech side.

It's rarely, if ever cheaper to outsource work to contractors.