5G rollout to create more job opportunities
Hiring activity for the rollout of 5G services has started in a modest way. Industry expects numbers to swell multifold as the rollout begins.
While uncertainties still prevail and telecom service providers are seeking clarity on 5G auctions, the job opportunities would be huge once the rollout happens.
"The application of 5G is across domains and hence the impact will be witnessed across sectors from manufacturing to telecom to e-commerce to agriculture. With advantages such as increased range to low latency, and more importantly less energy intensive, this tech will connect more users than before. Overall, the opportunity for 5G and its ecosystem is limitless…Hiring for this domain will continue for at least the next two to three years," said Vijay Sivaram, CEO of Quess IT Staffing.
According to Aditya Narayan Mishra, director and CEO of CIEL HR Services, "Currently, some of the IT service providers like Tech Mahindra, HCL,
Accenture and smaller IT companies have started hiring professionals for software architecting, development and testing in 5G. The positions open for the next three months would be somewhere around 5,000. These jobs are mostly in cities like Benagluru and Gurgaon,"
However, the telecom service providers have not yet started hiring people in a big way. "Telecom companies have been operating in a subdued environment for some time. In the backdrop of the pandemic, they will not be initially aggressive about investing heavily," says Rituparna Chakraborty, co-founder and executive vice president, TeamLease Services.
However, once the rollout happens, for the next six months we would see increased hiring activity. The positions open could be more than 50,000 in the future," said Mishra.
Telecom service providers also might train their existing staff for the new technology as the number of people who have the required skills is also limited. 5G being a new technology, not many people with more than five years of experience are available globally.
"While the demand is high, the overall availability of talent is yet to catch up, hence models such as 'train and hire' are becoming more common. Telecom service providers will hire a mix of freshers and experienced candidates as global services firms are also hiring in big numbers," said Sivaram.