New Delhi, October 2023.

The Telecom Sector Skill Council (TSSC), India's premier skill development institution for the telecom sector today launched the report “Telecom Talent in 5G Era: Demand Supply Skill Gap Report 2023-24”,in association with Draup, charting out the job opportunities in the Indian telecom sector, the demand supply gap, convergence of telecom with the technology sector, and the potential of talent in India across various job roles.The report was launched at the panel ‘Unlocking the power of Telecom: Skilling for a Connected World’ at India Mobile Congress with Industry leaders like Atul Kumar Tiwari, MSDE; Dr. Nirmaljeet Singh Kalsi, NCVET; Pankaj Mohindroo, ICEA; Priyanka Anand, Ericsson;Carsten S. Schröder, DADB and Arvind Bali, CEO, Telecom Sector Skill Council.The report highlightsthat India currently faces a telecom demand-supply gapof2.41M, which is expected to jump to 3.8 times by 2030. The report points out that one of the key challenges lies in thatonly 40% of India's graduates in computer science, IT, and math are employable in the technology sector due to the mismatch between academic requirements and industry demands.

The total number of employed talent in the Indian telecom industry is currently11.59 million, with 2.95 million corporate talent and 8.24 million blue-collar talent.The demand-supply skill gap report further highlights that across 15 top streams, Network Operation and Maintenance and Project Engineering have the most corporate talent, while Network Operation and Maintenance and Sales and Distribution - Service Segment have the most Blue-Collar talent.

The report estimates that India will require 22 million skilled workers in 5G-focused industries by 2025,in areas such as cloud computing, robots, and the Internet of Things (IoT). India is the only country expected to have a skilled labor surplus, with 1.3 million workers in the Technology, Media, and Telecommunications (TMT) sector by 2030.

Atul Tiwari, Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship said, "The telecom industry, with its vast potential, demands specialized skills and continuous upgradation. Engaging the industry, we're fostering on-the-job training, internships, and apprenticeships, aligning our skilling efforts with the latest standards. In anticipation of the upcoming 6G era, our focus remains on aligning our skilling initiatives with cutting-edge technologies, ensuring a workforce ready for the future of telecom.”

Unveiling the report, 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. India has a good chance to close the growing Demand-Supply gap by 2030 with the proper reskilling and hiring strategies that target adjacent talent in Tier-II & III cities and university supply. We are elated to launch this report which gives a clear view of the current state of the sector and the possibilities ahead for the industry in terms of the potential workforce that we can leverage to narrow the growing demand-supply gap”.

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, and even more powerful 6G Network Technologies will emerge by 2023 andby harnessing the value of IoT & RPA, AI/ML, Metaverse, and 6G, telecom and tech industry stand to reach new heights.