State of Telecom Industry in Pakistan

The telecom sector in Pakistan continues its growth and many jobs have been announced recently. As I received many comments on my previous posts for jobs, I am listing some open positions to help those who are looking for jobs. As the job listings for all companies change with time it is best to go each company’s website and look at the latest opportunities.  And please don’t leave your contact info or job application here. This is only a blog which provides information, it is not a place to apply for job!

Huawei

Huawei is looking for engineers (technical and sales), marketing managers, product managers and for many other skills such as Site Acquisition Manager. Here’s how to look for all the open jobs for Huawei in Pakistan:

Please click here and in the country search dropdown Select Pakistan and click on search. Click on the image above to see the screenshot of the search page.

For example Huawei is looking for a Product Manager Mobile Network (CDMA).

Telenor:

Visit Telenor.com.pk/careers/Jobs.php for details and positions available.

A few jobs listed at the above site include:

• Marketing Executive (Budgeting and Reporting)
• Executive - Project Office
• Assistant Brand Manager

Good luck and remember to direct any questions to the above companies and not on this blog. Feel free to leave general comments.

Details of Voluntary Separation Scheme (VSS) at PTCL have emerged with information also provided at PTCL site which puts it like this in Urdu: Aap Ki Hidmat Ka Etraf  (We recognise your services).

Total cost is about Rs 35 billion, out of which 50 per cent amount will be paid by the good old Government of Pakistan. The intended / eligible target of VSS are PTCL employees who are not over 58 years of age – probably management does not consider them relevant to the latest technology and strategy. According to insiders, this scheme works well for those who are relatively new at PTCL. As I have written before, if PTCL management handles this well, then this could be good for both the company and its employees in the long run. Business Recorder provides more information.

The government has imposed ban on re-employment of those employees of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) who will opt for Voluntary Separation Scheme (VSS), informed sources told Business Recorder.

“The Ministry of Information Technology will ensure that optees who are granted voluntary separation will not be re-employed by PTCL,” the sources quoted Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCoP) as giving directions to the Privatisation Commission.

Read more »

Continuing the series on mobile communication benefits to Pakistan economy, here I have highlighted the economic impact and included some employment numbers. Source is the Deloitte report mentioned in the earlier posts.

Here’s the information about the employment numbers from the mobile network operators (not from the whole sector as is noted below) - this is related to the mobile value chain post. I hope that this data will serve as a good reference to students and researchers. It also makes for a good case study for emerging telecom economies.

Good career opportunites in general are scarce in Pakistan. Internship opportunities in particular are quite limited. Internship programs take some effort to set up and not all companies support the internship programs. In my opinion good interns bring fresh ideas, perspective and energy and create goodwill and are well worth the effort. I asked a telecom student at SZABIST about his views on internship. His response:

It is very difficult to get opportunities in top notch mobile companies in Pakistan. Companies like Mobilink, Telenor, Ufone and Warid visit quite regularly or at least once a year in top notch institutions of Engineering and Business Administration like IBA, NED, UET (Lahore), LUMS and CBM and take evaluations tests. Later the short listed candidates are interviewed and the few lucky ones get through. Not to mention, there are always few candidates who use back door entry through good PR and other links with some1 in the management of that company to get in but by and large merit prevails in most of these companies. Its true that there are many talented individuals in Pakistan but not many opportunities exist for them so many go abroad.

On the TGP forum, another recent graduate of FAST-NU shared his internship experience:

I was lucky to secure an internship in the O&M dept of Telenor Pakistan comprising of six weeks last year, but a heavy majority of our first batch passed out without any “proper” internship where they could groom themselves professionally. There is another problem, that is of relative closeness of the Telecom sector. There maybe a lot of vertical growth in various organizations but there is less horizontal growth. We need right direction from the industry. More structured recruitment and internship programs shall be a great step in that direction.

Ufone and Telenor have ‘formal’ internship programs advertised on their site. Other job sites such as Mobilink, www.rozee.pk and www.finaljob.com.pk are also good places to search for internships and jobs. What about multinational companies such as Huawei and ZTE? These companies are popular with job seekers so it would be nice if someone can share information about internships or jobs there.

The excerpt from Ufone’s site below talks about a well-structured internship and leaves a good impression. The real question, as mentioned above, is how do we extend these opportunities to more talented students?

Ufone offers paid 6-8 weeks internship programs to fresh graduates, college students from various disciplines in all the major departments. This program is designed in such a way that it ensures maximum learning in your chosen career area and provides you an insight into our company, work and people. You will receive valuable on-the-job training, opportunities to learn, coupled with challenging projects and assignments.

The internship at Ufone is objective/assignment based. These are reviewed and evaluated at the end of internship. In addition, interns are paired with a mentor for further guidance. A project summary is required to be submitted to the supervisor and HR at the end of your internship.

Of the many challenges that our nation faces, educating and training of our youth is one of the most important. We need to prepare the next generation of information and communication technology professionals who are skilled, knowledgeable and competitive. We need to cultivate leadership from the next generation who can solve problems through research and innovation.

Currently we face a shortage of skilled engineers and researchers. Even if you combine the graduates of all tiers of universities and colleges, the numbers are far below the need. But there’s an even bigger challenge - are we producing the right quality of  resources? The answer is a definite NO.

There is work to be done in many areas. Funding the right programs, education policy, quality of existing education, training fresh graduates to transition to a professional life etc. I get plenty of mails and comments from students looking for internship or ideas for projects. It is evident from these interactions that many do not have the training to do fundamental research. They also lack the necessary communication skills which are critical to meet the global workforce standards.  The lack of information about what opportunities are available to them further hinders their prospects.

On a positive note there are groups and agencies which are working to make a difference. I recently heard about a promising effort: The National ICT R&D Fund. Here are  some excerpts from an email from the General Manager Solicitation and Evaluation, of this Fund.

National ICT R&D Fundwas created in January 2007 by Ministry of IT with the vision to transform Pakistan’s  economy into a knowledge based economy by promoting efficient, sustainable and effective ICT (IT and Telecommunications) initiatives through synergy of industrial and academic resources. We have significant funds available for proposals that are geared towards  creating ICT related technologies. We have a very positive and nurturing attitude and would like to fund projects that enhance the state of the art and create opportunities by solving industrial problems.

Read more »

TM posted this on Telecom Grid and I wanted to share with all that PTCL is offering free domestic calls anywhere within Pakistan on August 14th. Make sure to take advantage of this offer - click on the image on the left for details.

And by the way PTCL has embarked on a campaign of new corporate identity. As part of this effort, they have a new logo (I like it) and a new, much better web site. The site still needs fresh content at a few places. The career section is good though, powered by BrightSpryte. I hope that this will kick start the internal cultural change which is truly needed at PTCL to serve its customers.