CGC Oakgrove 4.0

Telecoms

Sector Outlook The industry has come a long way since Bell invented the telephone which in its day revolutionised long distance communication. In the age of mass communication we have an array of transmission methods including wireless, radio, fibre optics and satellite. The growth of mobile phone sales has dominated the market in recent year and accelerated the development of wireless communication over hard line systems. The fastest growth area is in the developing world where people are more likely to own a phone over a landline. The growth of data in the future will be directly related to the ‘internet of things’ where household devices will relay information giving us real time data on energy use, security, domestic items and host of other things that have sensors, software and internet connectivity. One survey suggests by 2020 there will be 26 billion connected devices. This means a vast increase of data for the telecoms industry to manage and sustain. In 2012 the global industry was estimated to be wor th £8 trillion. The UK’s current challenge is to increase its broadband to an ultrafast network of 500 Mbps by 2020. The 4G market is dominated by the big players of EE, Vodaphone, Three and O2. BT is developing its own 4G network as well as having a large wifi hotspots. Virgin was the first operator to combine tv, broadband, telephone and phone service but now Sky is about to launch mobile services to become another quad-player in the market. All the big operators have apprenticeship and graduate programmes and offer a wide range of oppor tunities throughout their business but you will also find vacancies amongst the other 8,500 companies operating in this sector. Being able to work in a team, problem solve, communicate and think logically are all essential skills for this sector. If you want to look fur ther at careers in telecoms check out www.gothinkbig.co.uk.