5G roll out in India likely to create 45,000 jobs in next 2 quarters

The mere anticipation of the roll out has already resulted in 80,000 5G related hiring in the current calendar year.

According to the latest estimates by staffing firms, the roll out of 5G services in India is likely to create a demand of up to 45,000 jobs over the upcoming two quarters, the Economic Times reported. The mere anticipation of the roll out has already resulted in 80,000 5G related hirings in the current calendar year.

However, this hike in demand for 5-G related profiles is not just in the telecom sector. Sectors like healthcare, retail, automobile, manufacturing are also focusing on 5G based hiring. Earlier, the Monster Employment Index (MEI), for July 1 to July 30, highlighted that the telecom sector "retained keenness to hire" on an upswing on account of growing digitisation and the upcoming rollout of 5G services, resulting in scaling up hiring by up to 15 per cent on a yearly basis.

Maintaining that even though a majority of demand is expected from Telco's, Sachin Alug, chief executive at staffing firm NLB Services said that other sectors like retail, manufacturing and healthcare too are expected to increase 5G related hiring. "There has been a 15-20% quarter-on-quarter rise in overall hiring focused on 5G," he told the Economic Times.

Most sought after Job profiles:

Hiring for job rolls like networking engineers, artificial intelligence and machine learning experts, user experience designers, cloud computing experts, cyber security specialists, and data science and data analytics experts are likely to see a 20% rise quarter-on-quarter.

Also, sectors other than telecom, may also hire professionals in fields including infrastructure development, equipment, network operations, and spectrum services for positions like network administration, testing, and software development.

According to experts, a major demand could come from industry 4.0 and smart city use cases for the internet of things provided by 5G. Currently, around 44% of 5G applications worldwide are found in the above to sector. 

Sensor-based crop monitoring, remote equipment control, surveillance, energy management, and smart transportation are some other applications that might prove to be a game changer with increased coverage and technology in India.

For how long the Job momentum will sustain?

This 5G induced hiring momentum is likely to sustain over the next few quarters, with companies focusing on skilling their workforce. This has triggered companies to increase their focus on hiring freshers, the Economic Times reported.

Earlier this year, India saw its first ever 5G spectrum auction. Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel—have both announced the initial launch of their 5G services in the country by this Diwali.