Three telecommunication providers have applied for the broadband grant — IT&E, Docomo Pacific and Northern Marianas College.
In its grant application, IT&E projects 30 direct employment opportunities from the broadband grant but they are looking at approximately 500 job creations through direct and indirect impact.
IT&E will be directly hiring customer service representatives, administrative, operators, tech specialists, lead techs, desktop and technical support, system administrators, database administrators, wireless transmission techs, account managers, wireless internet managers, call center supervisors, additional internship opportunities
The salary range for the entry level positions will be from $15,000 to $20,000 annually, mid level of $24-$40,000 and management level from $39,000 to $70,000 a year.
Northern Marianas College projects a creation of 40 plus new jobs including IT contractors, training contractors, content providers, project directors and software programmers. The college is also looking at saving over 200 jobs.
Although several positions will require outside vendors, NMC will prioritize on local hiring for several positions including all non-IT positions, directors, distant learning coordinators, testers, tech/lab support, network engineers and other positions.
NMC is looking to pay installers minimum wage, and network engineers from $100,000 and up based upon CNMI and the U.S. Department of Labor standards
Docomo Pacific did not provide specific numbers of employment opportunities but in their presentation, they estimate the project to create or save hundreds of jobs in the community based upon the amount associated with the deployment of a broadband system.
Docomo stated that approximately 250,000 jobs are created in the general economy for every billion invested in broadband deployment.
The three applicants may have to wait until February next year for NTIA to complete reviewing the volumes of applications they received from the other states.
