Demand-supply imbalance of about 28%, expected to increase with 5G development: TSSC report, “Overview: Indian Telecom market 2022-23.”

The Telecom Sector Skill Council (TSSC), which is in charge of telecom skilling, launched a report today called “Overview: Indian Telecom market 2022-23,” which outlines the areas of traction where the telecom sector would grow in the coming fiscal year.

According to the survey, there was a combined demand of over 1.5 lakh in roles in 5G, cloud computing, AI& Big Data Analytics, IoT, Mobile App Development, and Robotic Process Automation in the previous year, with a demand-supply imbalance of about 28%. With the development of 5G and related technologies, the skill demand supply imbalance will increase even further.

TSSC has also firmed up its strategies to expand skill infra and workforce with its oartners and stakeholders in anticipation of India’s 5G rollout in the near future. Over the next three years, TSSC aims to train 1 lakh individuals and build at least ten more centres of excellence across the country.

Various officials from the ministries, industry and academia attended the launch event to discuss the steps that need to be taken to achieve workforce skilling and optimization for India’s next phase of economic growth, where Telecom is a key pillar.

Rajesh Agarwal, Secretary, Ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship, Government of India, K Rajaraman, secretary, Department of telecommunications, Government of India and Alkesh Kumar Sharma, Secretary Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, were a part of the report launch.

Mr  K Rajaraman, Secretary, DoT, said: “A levelled progression in the skilling requirement will ensure progression and a deeper look at the technological changes along with skilling will ensure upgradation, make the workforce more relevant for future. This would require a tremendous amount of follow ups within the IT systems with high reliability which will enable affordable upskilling/reskilling. We hope to address policy issues like low penetration of Broadband, RoW issues and the industry needs to proliferate at CAGR of 30-40% in order to create phenomenal jobs.”

TSSC promises to provide the much-needed capacity to train a quality workforce on emerging technologies such as 5G, IoT, AI, ML, M2M and others. The organization will use funds from corporate social responsibility budgets and other activities. They intend to grow into telecom manufacturing and service clusters, where specialized labor is in high demand.

A panel consisting of established industry members like Dr. N. S. Kalsi (Chairman, NCVET), Mr Ved Mani Tiwari (COO, NSDC), Mr Pankaj Mohindroo (Chairman, ICEA), Mr P Balaji (CRO, VI), Mr T R Dua (DG, DIPA) and Mr Arvind Bali (CEO, TSSC) discussed the rollout of 5G services and allied technology.

Mr Arvind Bali CEO, TSSC commented: “We are focused on providing the workforce demand for the growth of 5G ecosystem in India. The ecosystem is seeing a big influx of manufacturing units with approval for PLI in telecom equipment, electronics, and handset manufacturing. With OEMs setting shop in India, they will need a plethora of job roles to set up their supply chain. We aim to aid the ecosystem with a world-class skilled workforce for 5G and its allied technologies.”

TSSC aims to develop worldwide through collaborations with African and Middle Eastern countries among others, in addition to government schemes such as PMKVY, DDU-GKY, NULM, and ESDM. They are already in talks to create internationally recognized courses for traditional work positions such as mobile device maintenance and service-oriented job roles. Advanced employment responsibilities will be cascaded to various foreign locations gradually.