NEW DELHI: The Indian telecom sector will need up to 150,000 additional hands in 2009,according to job consultants, as new players are launching operations and existing ones are beginning to scale up. With the government having issued 120 new licenses, telecom industry officials fear a talent crunch could push salaries in core operations by up to 30 percent in the next few quarters. "Conservative estimates put the demand from new players at 100,000 people in the first phase. With the rolling out of 3G and Wimax, existing players will need another 50,000 people," said Kris Lakshmikanth, CEO, Headhunters India.

Currently, the telecom sector directly employs about 150,000 people, while providing jobs to another 1.5 million with retail outlets, prepaid card sellers and tower constructors, which is expected to go up further, given the rural market expansion by these players. "The new players will have to attract talent by offering 15-20 percent higher salaries," said Krish Shankar, HR head at Airtel. Some of the new players such as Unitech, Swan, Loop Telecom and Shyam Telelink have started hiring and analysts feel this could drive poaching at top and middle management levels.

"Finding and retaining talent is a challenge today. Although we have an experienced workforce, at times they are short in supply. We generally look within the country itself, but are not closed to talent from anywhere if need be," said CN Nagakumar, Chief HR Officer, Tata Teleservices. The problem for the new players would be to get people in the core telecom space, which is primarily concerned with the technology of providing telecom services. While talent in sales and marketing can be found in abundance, sourcing professionals for setting up the infrastructure and networks would be difficult.
New players are looking at training inexperienced or fresh graduates, owing to the talent crunch. "We have a team in place, however, we expect a shortage of talent with a number of players entering the market," said Vsevolod Rozanov, CEO, Shyam Telelink, which is recruiting from campuses.