DeWITT, N.Y. — PPC Broadband, which makes components for broadband connections, is expecting to add nearly 200 jobs by the end of 2024, as it brings production back from overseas to operations in Central New York. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.) on Nov. 14 revealed how PPC Broadband in DeWitt, Belden’s broadband products […]
DeWITT, N.Y. — PPC Broadband, which makes components for broadband connections, is expecting to add nearly 200 jobs by the end of 2024, as it brings production back from overseas to operations in Central New York.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.) on Nov. 14 revealed how PPC Broadband in DeWitt, Belden’s broadband products business, is growing and bringing the jobs back.
The Democrat is crediting the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act for that growth. PPC is located at 6176 E. Molloy Road in DeWitt.
Schumer explained that PPC, which makes components for broadband connections, is expecting to have nearly 200 jobs in Central New York with more than half already hired and applications open now directly. It’s due to the “Buy America” requirements and billions in federal investment secured to build out high-speed internet across New York and the nation, Schumer noted in a news release.
He went on to say that it will take the business from nearly 350 employees in 2021 prior to the law to about 550 by the end of 2024.
“When I led the Bipartisan Infrastructure & Jobs Law to passage, I made sure it super-charged high-speed internet build out and that it would do so with companies and components right here in the USA. And that has turned into jobs, jobs, jobs in Syracuse. PPC Broadband is bringing production back from overseas to Central NY, adding hundreds of new good-paying jobs, as they ramp up production of key components to supply the boom in broadband buildout sparked by my federal infrastructure law,” Schumer said in the news release. “If we are building it in America we should be making it in America, and there is no place more suited for America’s high-speed internet future than Syracuse. Investing in tomorrow’s workforce today is how we can breathe new life into Central New York’s manufacturing legacy, and PPC Broadband is at the forefront of this effort — ensuring New Yorkers can get the good-paying jobs to build a good life for them and their families.”
“Senator Schumer, we heard you, President Biden, and other Administration officials who made it a priority for U.S. taxpayer dollars to be used in U.S. factories,” Cary Mullin, VP and general manager at Belden’s PPC Broadband Solutions, said in the Schumer release. “That emphasis stimulated capital investments and job creation that will cement our future in Central New York.”
Schumer explained that PPC Broadband has added 117 jobs since 2021 when the law was enacted and anticipates adding another 70-plus jobs by the end of 2024 — overall adding nearly 200 employees to its local workforce by the close of next year and bringing its workforce to nearly 550 in DeWitt.
In addition to the jobs mentioned above, PPC also is onshoring production from Mexico and the United Kingdom to support both new construction and improvements to existing PPC enclosures.
Schumer said PPC has spent and plans to spend over $9 million in capital for fiber cable extrusion, termination, and testing, as well as automated assembly for connectivity. It’s all needed for rural-broadband projects and projects to meet the demand from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s (IIJA) broadband equity, access, and deployment (BEAD) program, the lawmaker said.
Company history
PPC was founded in 1942 as a company that drilled metal components to support the demands of World War II. The company quickly grew into a cable-television connector and cable manufacturer during the antenna-television boom of the 1960s, and it began “innovating and developing new technologies that revolutionized the industry,” per the company’s website.
In 2012, PPC became a subsidiary of Belden, Inc., a provider of signal transmission products.
As reported in the Dec. 12, 2012 issue of The Central New York Business Journal, John Mezzalingua started the business with a single drilling machine in the basement of his in-laws’ restaurant, citing PPC’s website at the time.
Mezzalingua’s son, Dan, took over the company after him and his grandson, John, later became the company’s president.
In its Nov. 14 website article on PPC Broadband’s current job growth, WSYR-TV (NewsChannel 9, Syracuse ABC affiliate) reported that in 2013, the younger John Mezzalingua split the company. His half became JMA Wireless, the company that has its headquarters just south of downtown Syracuse and the one that purchased naming rights for Syracuse University’s on-campus Dome stadium.
The other half remained PPC Broadband, which now operates as a division of Belden.