It’s literally frenzy title to start a blog with. But after going through LightReading’s first employment survey of over 1600 communication industry respondents across globe, it appears that numbers could prove wrong in assessing the hard-facts faced by industry. Let me share things in Indian perspective!
Now the claim: according to the survey, when asked, “How satisfied are you with your current compensation package?” 69{af589cdba9d77786c8c861317dbad60bba1e2ebbf56e2ffab874a1b59fde9ce3} of the Indian respondents said that, they are either satisfied or very satisfied, while only 31{af589cdba9d77786c8c861317dbad60bba1e2ebbf56e2ffab874a1b59fde9ce3} expressed their dis-satisfaction with compensation. Then what’s the fuss is about?
First of all, out of over 1600 respondents, only 13{af589cdba9d77786c8c861317dbad60bba1e2ebbf56e2ffab874a1b59fde9ce3} were from Asia/Pacific region. So the number turns around to be 200+(to be exact). Let’s assume that half of them are respondents working in Indian Telecommunication industry for past 3-4 years. So it means, 69 out of 100 polled respondents from India are satisfied with the compensation. Is it representative enough to publish?
Now let’s come back to other sub-stats. Out of the polled respondents, more than 60{af589cdba9d77786c8c861317dbad60bba1e2ebbf56e2ffab874a1b59fde9ce3} of them earn $100,000, annually, while merely 5{af589cdba9d77786c8c861317dbad60bba1e2ebbf56e2ffab874a1b59fde9ce3} of them earn less than $25000 annually. If you go by above figures, then it’s quite justified to remain happy with your existing salary. Or it could be said in other words; when entire global economy is going through gloom for past one year or so, earning $100000 annually without getting laid off is a decent bargain for anyone. And I guess readers will agree to this.
Though majority of respondents agree to the fact that salaries remained flat for last two years and it’s likely to be so in coming year 2011, Indian telecom worker has different reasons to dismiss the claims of economic downturn.
Let’s leave stats behind now. India has added more than 50{af589cdba9d77786c8c861317dbad60bba1e2ebbf56e2ffab874a1b59fde9ce3} of its mobile subscriber base in last 2-3 years. Apart from that, Indian operators are still bullish about 3G amid skepticism. Let’s look at TataDoCoMo, who is about to launch 3G services across few circles. India Operators have already spent thousands of crores rupees on 3G/BWA Spectrum prices. Then question comes: where’s the slowdown in Indian Telecom Industry?
Of course, analysts may point to declining voice tariffs & over fragmentation/competition in the market as major setbacks to booming Indian telecom industry. But then we didn’t have per-sec billing or 10-12 players just 3 years back in market. Then why ‘Indian Telecom Worker’ is still happy with 1{af589cdba9d77786c8c861317dbad60bba1e2ebbf56e2ffab874a1b59fde9ce3} to 5{af589cdba9d77786c8c861317dbad60bba1e2ebbf56e2ffab874a1b59fde9ce3} compensation rise in last two years? Global slowdown has matched the perfect timing in India- with ‘Per-sec Billing’ launch.
It’s simple to understand. With declining EBITDA & revenue margins, for past one year or so, every one started claiming toll of wages of poor telecom workers in India. Which of the Indian Telecom Companies are running into losses? It’s hard to answer, but we still have breathing space. That has been provided by flat compensation rise in industry. When cost efficiency failed to materialize coupled with rising OPEX, only way to escape was to bring widely accepted jargon back on table – ‘economic slowdown’.
It’s a false notion. When Indian companies failed to think out of box, it took long time to understand that, voice (or rather voice tariffs) as a commodity isn’t going to take anyone, anywhere. It’s still not clear, how satisfied are Indian Telecom Employees, but certainly, numbers just don’t reveal what they should be always. It’s just a mere representation!
