Telecommunications

Currently the telecoms industry reports that:

- office data traffic is growing at 35 per cent every year

- by May 2003 the UK had two million broadband connections, increasing by 35,000 each week

- the sector grew by 3 per cent globally and by 2 per cent in the UK in 2002

- within a few months, the UK’s shortage of engineers is expected to be over 325,000

- the UK’s telecoms market will grow by over 4 per cent to ¤130 billion in 2003.

In this brief look at telecoms, it is only the connection between the machines at both ends of the system that will be considered. However, readers should be familiar with the term ‘information and communication technology’ (ICT) as it becomes used more frequently.

Convergence in the telecoms industry means that voice and data communications, which used to be two separate areas, are now coming together and using the same communications channels. The key to telecoms is ‘bandwidth’ – the amount of information that can be carried by a particular method of transmission like a cable or a radio wave. Modern developments involve enlarging the capacity of the links, increasing global coverage, joining end users together, and providing more facilities over more networks.

Mobile telecoms

To most people, mobile telecoms nowadays means the mobile phone. The latest commercial phones provide e-mail and Internet access, as well as fax, secure voice and many other facilities. Links between mobile phone and base station are by radio. Other infrastructure links use microwaves, and their dishes can be seen on many masts and buildings, bringing networks together.

Satellites may also be used in both mobile and static telecoms networks. Digital TV users will know of both cable and satellite services, and military people use mobile satellite radio equipment, including INMARSAT. As much as 90 per cent of all voice and data communications will be over mobile networks within ten years. After some false starts and technical problems, third-generation (3G) technology is now here to stay, with all providers building networks capable of supporting it.

Fixed telecoms

Fixed telecoms may include all the infrastructure necessary to run a local or wide area network – and links between the two. They may provide business services, telephones, television and much more besides, and may be used to transmit voice, fax, data, graphics or any combination of these.

The most common carriers of fixed telecoms are cables. These are made from both copper and fibre-optics, with the older, copper, being cheaper and more common, although the situation is likely to be different in a few years as fibre-optics is used more often. They are used to carry staggering amounts of information over incredible distances including the 11,700 kilometres of cable under the Atlantic Ocean.

Networks

Typically, a number of different commercial organisations will both provide and share telecoms network facilities. Signals pass through switches and links owned by many companies and rented by the service provider. Their routing is up to the owner of the links and a mobile phone call will be just one among many other phone and fax uses.

Messages need protocols to ensure that they get to the right place. They may need to be compressed and then decompressed, and they may be split into tiny fragments, with each one being sent separately and the whole being reconstituted.

Telecommunications in the Services

Each Service has its own ‘expert’ telecoms staff in the specialist communications and electronics branches, although there may be other people serving who have considerable expertise. Some will have relevant degrees, while others will have other qualifications.

Some people will also have specialised in telecoms and/or electronics as part of their career pattern. They are still likely to have a number of very transferable and marketable skills, but they may need to be targeted in a particular area.

Service people without the necessary technical background can still enter the industry, but probably at a lower level. Their personal qualities are valued, as well as the core skills that they may bring, including map reading, first aid and even an ability to work at heights.

Telecommunications on leaving the Services

Service leavers need to discover the area of telecoms right for them and for which they can reasonably expect to have the necessary qualifications and background to enter. The Career Transition Partnership offers resettlement training courses in this area at Aldershot and also through its network of suppliers.

Individuals should talk with people working in the industry to try to establish a reasonable starting point based on their skills and experience. Then they should look for the courses and training that suit them. The key is to start early and take resettlement training so it can be enhanced by self-study, academic qualifications and an industry placement.

Qualifications

Industry recruiters face three main problem areas:

- lack of qualifications

- lack of experience

- shortage of essential skills.

Also regarded as being of key importance to employers and possessed by Service leavers are the following skills:

• problem solving

• oral communications

• ability to work as part of a team.

People can gain qualifications through their employment and personal development while they are serving. This will primarily be about the theory necessary to use equipment, its actual use and how to pass on that knowledge to others. The academic background and principles of certain equipment use will be highly relevant, so the key is to build up these qualifications, while those whose career path does not include such courses should look at day release, evening classes, open learning and the Internet for opportunities to learn before they leave.

NVQs based on industry standards developed by e-skills UK – the sector skills council – are available, but these are not generally well known by employers. Some major vendors, such as Cisco, have produced their own qualifications, while other bodies, like BICSI, are marketing a suite of exams in the telecoms area. When developing a career in telecommunications, it is worth remembering that BTEC (Edexcel) has established a six-level framework of qualifications that could lead to a BSc honours degree.

There are many short courses available that are targeted at anyone from expert to novice, and often cover specialist areas for experts who want to study a particular area in depth. They also provide a basic qualification for someone entering the industry at comparatively low level.

Employment in telecoms

Getting employment involves:

- qualifications

- experience

- networking

- work placements

- the right CV

- going for the right job.

Once in a company the employment possibilities are enormous in this changing industry. Permanent employment is often regarded as three to five years, and people commonly change employer every two years or so. In-house training meets specific company objectives; individuals use employers to enhance their own personal development, and good people can achieve rapid promotion.

The Fibreoptic Industry Association’s SkillsMatch programme allows people holding the relevant qualifications to record their achievements on its website database. Employers can then undertake checks online and those people who are seeking employment can advertise their availability for work.

Salary expectations

This is only a rough guide – pay varies from one company and contract to another:

- junior engineer – £13,000 to £18,000

- installation engineer – £15,000 to £25,000

- team leader – £18,000 to £22,000

- project manager – £22,000 to £40,000

- planning engineer – up to £40,000

- technical trainer – £28,000 to £50,000

- network engineer – up to £50,000

- consultant – £30,000 to £60,000.

Overtime, shift work, and benefits can increase these salaries.

BEEN THERE, DONE THAT!

Case history: telecoms

Stephen Tyrrell

LWEM(R) Stephen Tyrrell had passed for promotion to Petty Officer before leaving the RN in June 1999 after nine years because promotion was slow and he had ambitions. ‘The biggest thing I gained from my Service career was learning how to deal with people at all levels and also to be confident when addressing groups of people. Leadership courses … were very helpful.’

He had competed City & Guilds Levels 1, 2 and 3 in Electronics Servicing, and attended a Career Transition Workshop that helped in ‘formatting a CV and having lots of publications available to read’.

Tyrrell chose a Cablenet Training resettlement course in the installation and testing of Category 5e and Fibre Optic Cabling, which was ‘extremely good although quite intense’. He also had three weeks’ work experience for a company in Watford.

He ‘cold-called the Human Resources Manager of Lynx Data Cabling in Milton Keynes and attended an interview for a job as an installation engineer’. He is now a project manager, responsible for surveying sites for the installation of advanced cabling for computer networks. He then evaluates installation costs, prepares quotes, assigns staff and manages the installation.

He deals with different people on a day-to-day basis as well as new clients. His company enabled him to pass the BICSI RCDD course and he is enjoying ‘a whole change in direction’.