Indian telecom industry employs around two million people directly and indirectly. Business Pundits and HR analysts predicts up to 20% Job cut in the coming years the reason is due to consolidation of three mega mergers in the works in the telecom sector.

RCom-Aircel
Vodafone-Idea
Airtel-Telenor

If above three go through regulatory and operational hurdles, are likely to create drastic change in capital expenditure synergies across networks, rationalise selling and marketing expenses of the players and reduce overall manpower costs for the industry.

“One of seven jobs in the sector is under threat. Most impacted will be jobs connected with sales and distribution and those in the infrastructure services space,” said the a HR Expert who supplies man power to Telcom Industry for the past 10 years.

“Overall, close to 20-40 per cent of support function roles are expected to be at risk as consolidation plays out, which is in the next 12-20 months,” he said.

“However any cut in jobs is likely to play out only over the next two years.” For most large players, employee salaries are anywhere from four-five per cent of their sales revenue. With consolidation, employee costs are expected to come down” says Tanu Sharma, associate director, India Ratings and Research.

HR experts said consolidation among telecom players will have a ripple effect on the entire sector and allied system. This is because the ratio of direct to indirect jobs in the telecom sector is estimated to be around 1:4. That is, every direct job leads to creation of four jobs in the indirect and tertiary sectors, says a management consultant from one of the Big Four advisory firms, which has several telecom clients.