India by 2025 will require 22 million skilled workers in 5G-focused industries such as cloud computing, robotics, and the Internet of Things (IoT), as per a joint analysis by the Telecom Sector Skill Council (TSSC), the country’s premier skill development institution for the sector, and Draup, an AI platform that helps enterprises future-proof their talent.
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The country currently faces a telecom demand-supply gap of 2.41 million, which is expected to jump to 3.8 times by 2030, according to the study titled “Telecom Talent in 5G Era: Demand Supply Skill Gap Report 2023-24.
The total number of employed talent in the Indian telecom industry is currently 11.59 million, with 2.95 million corporate talent and 8.24 million blue-collar talent. Network Operation and Maintenance and Project Engineering have the most corporate talent, while Network Operation and Maintenance and Sales and Distribution - Service Segments have the most Blue-Collar talent.
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As technology moves into the Web 3.0 era, the proportion of software in the telecom sector will triple, according to the report. Trends indicate that, with the help of AI, even more powerful 6G Network Technologies will emerge by 2023 and by harnessing the value of IoT & RPA, AI/ML, Metaverse, and 6G, telecom and tech industry stand to reach new heights, it further said.
Arvind Bali, CEO, of Telecom Sector Skill Council said, “The telecom sector is the third-largest industry in India that accounts for roughly 6.5% of all FDI inflow and also by 2027, India is anticipated to account for 11% of all 5G subscriptions worldwide.”
The country has a good chance to close the growing demand-supply mismatch by 2030 with the proper reskilling and hiring strategies that target adjacent talent in tier-2 and tier-3 cities and university supply, he said while speaking at India Mobile Conference on Friday.