At Traditional Phone Companies, Jobs May Not Last a Lifetime

[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Ken Belson]
"When there's more fiber in, there's a whole lot less work to do." A look at the changing employment landscape at large telcos. Fiber optic cable is more durable than traditional copper lines, so fewer repair crews are needed to maintain it. Engineers can monitor the network remotely and identify problems on computers miles away instead of sending teams of workers to look for cable breaks. The leap from copper cable to fiber is just one of the many changes facing telecommunications companies like BellSouth and the hundreds of thousands of workers they employ. Traditional phone companies are moving from vast and costly networks -- systems that were managed by legions of workers who received long-term job security, decent pay and good benefits -- to new, cheaper technologies that require fewer workers. The Bells and their like are not going to disappear, of course, since someone will still have to operate the phone and broadband networks that software-driven companies like Skype and AOL must use. But as these newer companies make deeper inroads, the Bells are likely to do what most incumbents do: use their significant political power to win over lawmakers. The government has stood by as the Bells bought the two biggest long-distance carriers and created the country's two largest cellphone carriers. And lawmakers have acquiesced to their demands for a speedier entry into the television business. The Bells have also won rulings that make it harder for rivals to piggyback on their networks. Legal solutions, though, will only delay, not reverse, the decline in higher-paying old-line jobs and rise in lower-paying work at new companies.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/05/technology/05telecom.html?pagewanted=all
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