Indian Telecommunications Industry Struggling to Cope with Increasingly Severe Shortage of 5G Talent

India’s telecommunications industry is one of the countries with the fastest release of 5G technology globally. However, according to a report jointly released by the Telecommunications Industry Skills Committee and Draup titled ‘Telecommunications Talent in the 5G Era: 2023-24 Supply Demand Skills Gap Report’, India is currently working to address the shortage of 5G talent with nearly 2.4 million people. Draup is an Indian startup that sells expertise in artificial intelligence (AI). The report states that by 2030, this talent gap may expand by 3.8 times.
A key reason for this supply and demand gap seems to be the mismatch between academic requirements and industry demand. For example, in India, only 40% of graduates majoring in mathematics, computer science, and information technology can find jobs in the technology industry.
One of the main factors causing the supply and demand gap is the skill shortage observed in early and newly hired talents. Due to the continuous transformation of technological models, the demand for talent/job vacancies has surged, further widening this gap.

Currently, the industry has approximately 11.59 million employees, of which 2.95 million are white-collar and 8.24 million are blue collar. But the report states that by 2025, India will need 22 million skilled workers to work in 5G focused industries such as cloud computing, robotics, and the Internet of Things (IoT).
In fact, many students are not aware of the career prospects and attractive income provided by the 5G industry, which is currently one of the main obstacles faced by enterprises in seeking 5G talent.
The report states that a further challenge is that 33% of top network engineering and operations positions do not possess the future skills required to respond to trend innovation.
It defines the top positions in the telecommunications industry today as machine learning engineers, deep learning engineers, and data scientists. The cities with the most talent include Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, and Bangalore, accounting for over 41% of the current total.
Despite the gap, the author of the report expressed a certain degree of optimism. The report states: “India is highly likely to narrow its widening supply and demand gap by 2030, targeting nearby talents in second and third tier cities and universities through appropriate retraining and recruitment strategies.”
Given the economic importance of 5G technology, quickly addressing the talent gap seems to be a top priority. India also hopes to contribute to the 6G standardization process, but due to a shortage of telecommunications talent, this may be difficult.
The TSSC report states: “As a service provider, telecommunications companies have one to two years to develop 5G capabilities, accelerate the launch of 5G, and even prepare for 6G capabilities, which will enable emerging trends such as metaverse phenomena to be realized.”