The telecom sector will require 41 lakh skilled workers by 2022.
The Department of Telecom (DoT) and the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) have signed an MoU to develop and implement a National Action Plan for Skill Development in the telecom sector.
In the next six years, the telecom sector will need 41 lakh skilled workers and the stress will be on training. The telecom sector in India is growing at the rate of 15 per cent, annually.
On Friday, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology, said that India should develop such an architecture that it becomes capable of supplying skilled workforce.
MSDE and DoT together have agreed to make concerted joint efforts for skill development. They aim to facilitate the mobilisation of financial support for various activities that will help develop telecom skills.
Through this partnership, the two ministries will also make coordinated efforts to utilise old telephone exchanges of PSUs under DoT, which are no longer in use, or exchanges which have ceased to occupy major space in the telecom sector, for skill development initiatives. They will upgrade the same on a need basis.
The growth rate of the telecom sector between 2013 and 2017 is estimated to be 15 per cent, and currently, the sector contributes three per cent of the country’s GDP.
“The requirement of the workforce in this field was about 2.8 million in 2013. It will reach 4.16 million by 2022. So, you require a minimum 20 lakh trained manpower,” Prasad said.
The minister also announced that an audit will be undertaken to check spare space in public sector units (PSUs) under DoT, that can be utilised as skill development centres.
PSUs under DoT will also make use of at least 20 per cent of their CSR funds for skilling purposes.
The Minister also said that the private players had an obligation towards skill development.
