The Great Telecom Cash Flow Crisis (And why it’s threatening the entire industry)
If you’ve worked in telecom contracting for more than a minute, you already know this story: Crews grind day after day, invoices go out, but the money? Nowhere to be found.
❌ 90–120 day terms.
❌ Clients holding retainage like ransom.
❌ Factoring companies swooping in like vultures to take their cut.
Meanwhile, contractors are left begging banks for loans just to keep payroll going. The work is finished, the fiber is in the ground, the invoices are approved—but the checks don’t come.
This isn’t just a “contractor problem.” It’s a systemic failure that’s threatening the health of the entire telecom industry.
The Race to the Bottom: How Telecom Contractors Are Undermining Their Own Success
Part 2 of 3 in the “Telecom Contractor Survival Series”
Last week, we exposed how prime contractors squeeze their subs with unfair splits, vague directives, and payment delays. This week, we shift focus inward—on a problem contractors bring upon themselves: the race to the bottom on pricing.
The Unsustainable Bidding War
Telecom has become a pricing deathmatch. Subs undercut each other, hoping to land the next build. And while that might win short-term work, it's doing long-term damage—both to their businesses and to the integrity of the industry….
Why Telecom Needs to Be Standardized Again
Telecom is one of the most important industries in America. We connect homes, schools, hospitals, and businesses. We’re building the backbone of modern life.
And yet — we have fewer standards than the people that cut your hair.
The Workforce Drain: How Prime Contractors Are Undermining the Telecom Industry’s Future
The U.S. telecom industry is at a critical inflection point. Billions are being poured into fiber and broadband expansion by large ISPs and public funding programs like BEAD and RDOF. But while the investment headlines sound promising, there’s a quieter, more dangerous issue happening on the ground: the slow, systematic erosion of the subcontractor workforce that this entire buildout depends on….