'25 mn jobs can be created in digital infra space in 5-7 yrs'

More than 25 million jobs can be created in the digital infrastructure space in the next five to seven years, Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan said today.
"If Internet of Things alone can create 10-15 million jobs, the digital infrastructure space will create more than 25 million jobs in next five to seven years...," she told PTI on the sidelines of IoT India Congress here.
"Just look at the scenario - we are still importing 90 per cent of our equipments from abroad. We still need a million wifi hotspots. There are requirements in cloud-based telecom services and many startups are catering these services.

"So, as far as jobs are concerned, there is huge potential. We just need to start skilling people in all these new areas," she said.
Updating skills in the midst of emerging technologies is the most important antidote for tackling joblessness, she said.
"When we say technology is disruptive, what do we mean? Some technologies and conventional jobs will disappear, but new technologies will appear. So, we have to keep ourselves updated on technological front," she said.

Asked whether spectrum auction will happen this year, Sundararajan said it all depended on TRAI's recommendations.
"TRAI has started their consultations. Let us see what emerges from there. Sometimes, they complete the consultations pretty fast. We have seen it happening in two months also. It all depends upon what feedback the industry gets," she said.

Replying to a query, Sundararajan said foreign players like Google and Facebook are looking at investing in tower infrastructure and cloud-based services.
"There are foreign players, for example like Google. They are interested in wifi hotspots. Facebook wants to come up with new technologies," she said.