Telecom Jobs Poised to Grow

Kalyan Sagar Nippani, chief general manager, National Academy of Telecom Finance and Management (NATFM), BSNL,  on emerging trends in the telecom sector. The industry supports more than 10 million people directly or indirectly. This figure is estimated to triple in the coming decade.

Telecom Jobs poised to grow

India is the second largest wireless network in the world, with a teledensity of 77%. Currently, there are over 900 million mobile subscribers. Of the many new technologies in the telecom arena, 4GLTE (long-term evolution) represents the present and the future.

The expected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is around 20% in the coming few years. The FDI in telecom sector was US$12,889 million between April 2000 and December 2013.

The mobile advertising market itself is estimated to reach Rs 3,000 crore by 2016. The mobile gaming market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 24% and reach an estimated Rs 18 billion. India is at the threshold of a broadband data boom with the evolution of broadband mobile data based on 4GLTE technology.

The telecom sector is a huge employer of engineers with graduate and postgraduate qualifications. Career opportunities are plenty in areas including network deployment and management, operations and maintenance and network optimisation.

The industry supports more than 10 million people directly or indirectly. This figure is estimated to triple in the coming decade with a substantial chunk of opportunities in the areas of sales, marketing, finance, customer service and support.

Employers in this industry expect students to be `industry ready’ when they are recruited. On the technical side, proficiency is expected in the application of their knowledge.

In marketing and customer service, what is expected is a thorough knowledge of customer needs and the ability to match those needs.

There is an increasing emphasis on soft skills and interpersonal excellence even from those with knowledge in core technology backgrounds.

In a highly volatile and competitive telecom sector which is constantly changing, the employers do not have the inclination, resources and time to recruit a student and then impart training.

There is undeniably a perceptible gap between the practical and real-time needs of the industry. There is a lacuna in practical inputs that are required in the telecom network and its overall management. There is thus a gap between knowledge and skill sets on the one hand and industry expectations on the other.

Source: The Times of India