There is no accurate estimate of the telecom market size in India. With Indian telecom market expected to increase by leaps and bounds and service operators going for technology and network updates, the need for trained professionals is bound to rise. The largest telecom operator in India, BSNL expends more than Rs 100 crore on training and upgrading its staff through the Advanced Level Telecommunications Training Centre (ALTTC) and 43 other regional training institutes. Almost an equal amount is spent by private telecom operators. A rough estimate pegs the total training market size to about Rs 400 crore.

As the telecom sector expands there would be a greater demand for telecom graduates. However, just holding an engineering degree will not be enough to survive in a sector where constant updating of knowledge and skillsets is required. This trend would further put pressure on the top training and educational institutes to bridge the gap between demand and supply.

Though not entirely in-house, but loosely on the BSNL model of maintaining its own training institutes, Reliance has set up an open-for-all Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology while Bharti has tied up with IIT Delhi for the Bharti School of Telecommunication Technology and Management. However, both Reliance and Bharti are not wholly dependent on these institutes for specialized professionals or updating their staff. In fact, there is no indication that people being trained in these institutes get absorbed by the parent company. But both the initiatives are a step towards filling the requirements of trained telecom professionals. Though there have been proposals and suggestions, the government has not yet opened up ALTTC and the regional institutes for professionals other than from BSNL.

Also, the non-technology training in fields like customer care and marketing has been shadowed by technology training. With the competition on the rise and the Indian customer becoming more aware of their rights, there has been a demand to impart proper training in non-technology areas too.