Telecommunications is the transmission of information over a distance either through wireless networks or wired cables. With the evolution of telecommunication over the last century and the use of E.M waves such as radio waves, microwaves and fiber optics, the world's effective capacity to exchange information has grown many-folds.

Telecommunication services involve telegraph and telex, fixed line telephone services, communication through facsimile, pager and cellular mobile telephone services. Telecom companies that deal in hardware communication equipments often deal with the manufacturing of products ranging from transceiver, transponder, Opto-electronic devices to video broadcasting satellites.

Telecom sector in India:

With more than 630 million connections the Indian Telecommunication Network is one of the largest networks in the world. Due to various proactive decisions taken by the government and the framework implemented by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, the consumers are not only able to afford the benefit of telecommunication services at affordable tariffs now but many private sector organisations have invested in the industry resulting in employment opportunities in the past few years.

According to a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers, in the current year, the Indian mobile sector is expected to provide a direct employment to 2.8 million people and to 7 million people indirectly. MTNL, BSNL & VSNL are the major public sector organisations in the telecom sector while Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, Idea Cellular, Tata Communication are the private players.

Job profiles in the telecom industry are:

• A Telecommunication Technician is responsible for establishing voice and data networks by installing the communication equipments such as routers, multiplexers, de-multiplexers, fax machines etc. Minor testing of the equipments to check if they are working properly and correcting minor faults is a part of their job. In case of serious network issues, the problems are escalated to other teams. They are also involved in the documentation of communication network by labelling and routing equipments and cables; recording network configuration diagrams and specifications.
  
  Skills required:
  • The candidate should possess good technical skills – strong concepts of signal processing will be an added advantage.
  • The candidate should possess troubleshooting skills and should be able to repair cable boxes, modems.



• A telecommunication specialist has a thorough knowledge of technical specifications of network equipments and is mainly responsible for planning network installations. They are also responsible for establishing voice and data networks by using programming features and perform testing on the network services, programming circuits and network back-up procedures.
  
  Skills required:
  • The candidate must possess troubleshooting skills and should have a good knowledge of testing the network equipments
  • Since their job responsibilities may also involve training customers in the use of installed telecommunication equipments they should possess excellent communication skills.



• A Communication Systems Operator working in a telecom company is involved in the installation and configuration of the communication equipments. By conducting performance tests, a communication systems operator ensures that the communication lines are working properly. They also perform quality control testing on trunk lines and electronic circuits. They are also trained to take appropriate countermeasures in case of electronic jamming. They are responsible for carrying out regular maintenance checks on other communication devices.
  
  Skills required:
  • Since a communication system operator is involved in the quality testing of electronic equipments, he should have an in-depth knowledge of electronic circuits and troubleshooting skills.