It would be no exaggeration to state that the 21st century is looking like the era of telecommunications. For most of us, not a day goes by that is untouched by the wonders of technologies like telephone, fax, email, Internet, television and cable, satellite communication and other cellular and digital revolutions that have made the globe ¡°a small world after all.¡± Telecommunications, the term coined to describe all of these technologies, is a gigantic industry worth $1 trillion in products and services per year. It includes hardware, software and service companies that enable ¡°telecommunication¡± across the globe. Hardware includes a range of products such as video broadcasting satellites, hand-held telephones and fiber optic transmission cables that enable communication across the planet. Services include running the switches that control the phone system, making Internet access available and configuring private networks that enable corporations to conduct their business across the globe. Software delivers the applications and procedures that make this all work, from sending and receiving emails to relaying satellite data and controlling switch equipment for telephones. Because the Telecommunications Act of 1996 prohibits service providers from manufacturing telecommunications equipment, the simplest way to break down this industry is between those that develop hardware and software, and those who provide services.

Industry deregulation and the explosive growth of the Internet have opened the floodgates of opportunity in this industry. The past decade has seen a phenomenal rise in technological innovation, merging technologies and intense competition in telecommunications. Prior to the Telecommunications Act of 1996, local service companies and long-distance service providers were banned from entering each other¡¯s market space, TV companies could not offer local telephone services, and phone lines could not be used to deliver video programming. AT&T and its 22 service-provider subsidiary companies dominated the industry. The lift of this ban has unleashed such potential that today, the telecommunications industry is home to some 1,400 local telephone companies, 150 long-distance providers and 400 long-distance resellers, besides hundreds of telecommunications-equipment manufacturers and other companies that exist on any given day. Telecommunications is so pervasive in our everyday lives and so integral to our global connectivity, that it is now an industry whose technological changes, business trends and labor shortage affect the very economy of this country.

Job Options

Who can be a part of this thrilling wave sweeping across the globe? Anyone who has anything to do with technology in their every day life; academicians, lawyers, MBAs, salespeople and PR types are needed just as badly as the techies who design and maintain the worldwide information network of the future. The industry, ripe with opportunities, will stay that way for some time to come ¨C boding good news for job seekers.

The types of jobs available can be split into two broad categories ¨C end users and service providers/suppliers. The end user community includes organizations that are consumers of telecommunications products and services, and are not primarily involved in the development of these products or services. Some examples are insurance companies, banks, financial institutions, utilities, manufacturers, retailers, wholesalers, electronic commerce service providers and Internet companies.