More companies are showing interest in 5G technologies with the Government of India allowing trials and testing. Companies are looking to integrate 5G technologies into existing network elements and stepping-up research and development to provide customer management solutions. Jobs postings with ‘5G’ in the title have doubled between Q4 2020 and Q1 2021, finds GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
Ajay Thalluri, Business Fundamentals Analyst at GlobalData, says: “Job postings have doubled between Q4 2020 and Q1 2021, indicating an increase in the demand for expertise in 5G domain. Popular roles include engineers specializing in networks, IP networking, software, firmware, and automation.”
India is emerging as one of the key markets for Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (Ericsson). Over 20% of the jobs posted since 1 January 2020 are in India with the company looking at cellular and radio network prospects. While providing technology support to service providers, Ericsson is also exploring security aspects of 5G networks by evaluating business strategies and requirements.
Cisco Systems Inc., is investing US$5bn to fund 5G projects globally, including India. The company posted over 30% 5G jobs in India since 1 January 2020. Cisco’s 5G related hiring is dominated by engineers for cloud core and packet core teams to enable virtualized cloud services. Job postings are also for 5G mobile core projects to translate customer business needs into product technical requirements and use cases.
Meanwhile, companies such as Dell Technologies (Dell) and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co (HP) that offer 5G-enabled devices are hiring for experts in 5G domain. Dell is building a 5G R&D team from the ground up at its Bangalore office to design and develop products and solutions for service providers and enterprise customers. Interestingly, HP, which is gaining significant traction with communication service providers (CSP) accounts in various areas including 5G services, is providing cloud native 5G offerings.
Indian companies such as Bharti Airtel are expected to benefit by collaborating with the likes of Qualcomm Technologies in 5G/5G NR domain and access chipsets. India has permitted telecom operators such as Reliance Jio Infocomm, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) to conduct trials for 5G with help from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and technology providers for end use and applications.
Key jobs include Director, Software Engineering – 5G R&D; Customer Success Specialist (CSS) – Mobility – 4G/5G; Embedded 5G/4G Cellular RF Software/Firmware Engineer; CMS R&D – 5G Micro-services Java Developer Bangalore, Karnataka; and 5G Systems Engineer.
Mr Thalluri concludes: “With a host of companies looking at various 5G use cases in India, hiring could go beyond conventional telecom end use. Hiring is also likely to increase over the coming months with companies exploring various components of the 5G value chain.”
