Shortly after the White House revealed state allocations for the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) took time to recognize the fiber manufacturing efforts of Prysmian Group.
Prysmian, a multinational company operating several manufacturing plants across North America, recently invested $30 million to upgrade its copper cable facility in Jackson, Tennessee to a fiber optic plant. That investment was first announced last May.
In prepared remarks delivered at the Jackson factory, NTIA Deputy Assistant Secretary April McClain-Delaney said Prysmian “is an example of what we’d like to see other manufacturers do across the country.”
“Prysmian completed this retooling in record time and made sure your workers were not left behind,” she said on Thursday. “The retraining program allowed Prysmian to keep 90% of workers, who are now producing fiber optic cable.”
“Working alongside Prysmian and other manufacturers, we can grow our economy from the bottom up and middle out, create good-paying jobs and close the digital divide once and for all,” said Mitch Landrieu, senior advisor to the president and White House infrastructure coordinator, in a statement.
Aside from bolstering fiber production in Tennessee, Prysmian has undertaken a $50 million project to modernize its Claremont, North Carolina fiber factory. North Carolina scored one of the highest BEAD allotments at $1.53 billion, while Tennessee received around $813 million.
Notably, the White House on Monday showcased Prysmian fiber rolls during President Biden’s BEAD announcement.
“In Jackson, we’ve upskilled our workforce to meet the new demands of the retooled plant,” said Patrick Jacobi, SVP of telecom at Prysmian Group North America, in a statement earlier this week. “While the plant was under construction, they spent time at our facilities across the U.S., learning necessary on-the-job- skills and contributing to plant production as they prepared for the transition from copper to fiber in the Jackson Plant.”
Prysmian isn’t the only fiber vendor doubling down on manufacturing investments in the U.S. STL recently launched its first U.S-based fiber plant in South Carolina. Additionally, Corning in March opened a new fiber optic facility in North Carolina, where CommScope has also ramped up its production capacity.