Asia Telecoms Recruitment Insight 2023

February 2023: Asia telecoms market update Q1 2023

One of the key trends to watch in the Asia telecoms market in 2023 is the continued growth of 5G networks, whether that is the Japan telecom market, the China telecom market or the Hong Kong telecom market . With 5G technology provider faster and more reliable connectivity, many countries in the region are investing heavily in its rollout. Another trend to watch for is the rise of digital transformation. With the increasing importance of technology in the modern business landscape, many companies are investing heavily in digital transformation initiatives to improve their competitiveness and drive innovation. This is leading to increased demand for cloud computing, IoT, and other digital technologies, which are helping to drive growth in the Asia telecom market.

Telecoms jobs in high demand across Asia

Satoshi Tanaka, our specialist recruitment consultant based in Hong Kong, highlights the telecoms jobs in Asia most in demand this quarter.

• Public sector sales

Telecoms organisations such as Juniper, Cisco, VMware, Sales Force, Splunk or any IT, Telecom or network solution vender in Japan are focusing heavily on developing new business opportunity in central government, local government, universities, research institutes or any organization in Japan's public sector. The public sector in Japan is improving its cloud-based IT network infrastructure and DX is the key trend.

• Telecoms sector sales

Whatever the solution of 5G is, selling 5G network, multi-could, cyber security, network testing, routing or switching solutions to telecom operators in Japan is in high demand. This is because Telecom operators need to update their legacy infrastructure to save their cost and make innovative network service. 

• IoT solution sales

Sales role selling IoT and connectivity solutions for Automotive, Retail/Robotics/smart building/Manufacturing industries are in high demand. This is because the innovation of smart car, smart factory, smart building, smart city is seen in Japan. So IoT solution venders think that there is/will be a great chance to develop their business now.

Other jobs that are in demand within the Asia telecoms market include; 5G network engineers, cloud computing specialists, cyber security specialists, network architects, data scientists, and project managers. The Asia telecoms market is dynamic and evolving constantly.

April 2022: Asia telecoms market update: Q2 2022

The telecommunications recruitment market in Asia continues to thrive as we enter the second quarter of 2022, and there seems to be no signs of it slowing down for the foreseeable future. In this blog, I’ll provide a snapshot of the main elements that are having the biggest impact on recruitment within the telecommunications market in Asia.

The market as a whole is going from strength to strength with the Asia communications service market projected to be valued at $495.40bn at the end of 2022, with the largest segment being Mobile Data, predicted to have a market volume of $225bn this year. By 2027, revenue is expected to grow annually by 1.66% reaching $537.80bn.

Busiest areas in telecoms

Our telecoms recruitment specialists based in Hong Kong and Shenzhen have seen recruitment activity increase across the whole of the telecommunications industry in Asia, but they have noticed that over the past three months the areas with the most recruitment activity are: 5G core, Core network, IP networking, NFV, Open Ran, SDN, and Telco cloud. We believe these areas will continue to be the busiest areas for the next several months. Recently, we published an article about the Japanese telecommunications recruitment market where we discuss how Open Ran and 5G are seeing the most growth.

The three top telecommunications jobs in Asia 

Whilst there are many roles being recruited for across all telco companies, below are the top three jobs that we believe are the hottest jobs in telecommunication. This has changed compared to what we were seeing at the beginning of the year, which can be found here. 

• Core network engineers
• IP Networking engineers
• Sales managers with experience selling routing and switching products and cybersecurity products. 

Predictions 

Over the coming three to six months, the levels of recruitment activity in Asia should remain constant across all organisations. We are seeing an increase in the number of Chinese companies looking to operate and expand outside China. What is interesting to note is that there are many international companies setting up and expanding into Japan, mainly being fuelled by the increase in 5G activity. Will this continue throughout 2022? Only time will tell.

The telecommunications jobs market in Asia is currently booming and 2022 is expected to see exponential growth. If you are considering a career move for a new job in telecommunications, contact me or our teams in Hong Kong or Shenzhen.

March 2022: Japan Telecommunications Market Update

Open RAN is looking to be the hot topic in the Japanese telecommunications industry this year with Rakuten in Japan being the “first mover” in building out nationwide, 5G Open RAN networks. According to a recent Forbes article, Japan has called for two international conferences this year to promote the development of Open RAN systems.

According to the same Nikkei Asia article “Japan wants to strengthen cooperation with the U.S. and other Quad countries and is committed to accelerating Open RAN. Japan is also pushing collaboration with Western telecom manufacturers. Docomo, Rakuten Mobile, NEC, Fujitsu, and other companies are preparing an application for technical specifications to the O-RAN alliance.”

In pushing for an increase in Open RAN workload, spearheaded by the Japanese government and major telco firms, the hope is that Japanese telecommunications companies can provide an alternative to Huawei.

The most recent information from market research company, Statista, shows that the Japanese telecommunication market is gradually increasing in value and is now estimated at a staggering ¥14.9 trillion ($129 billion USD). With the increased focus on Open RAN in 2022, we anticipate this to translate into an increase in recruitment for Open RAN jobs in Japan over the next 12 months. It will be interesting to see how Japanese telecommunication companies work alongside other Quad countries over the course of 2022, and what effect this will have on telecommunications recruitment in Japan.

Satoshi Tanaka, a recruitment specialist in Japanese telecommunications commented:

“The Japanese recruitment market is extremely competitive at the moment, especially within 5G and Open RAN. Global tech companies are competing for the best talent in Japan, so partnering with an experienced, expert recruitment agency who understands a company’s recruitment strategy, innovative technology, and career progression is the key to succeed in Japan's competitive telecommunications recruitment market.”

For more information about the telecommunication recruitment market in Japan, contact Satoshi Tanaka.

January 2022: THREE OF THE HOTTEST TELECOMMUNICATIONS JOBS IN ASIA IN 2022.

The telecommunications market in Asia is arguably one of the most advanced in the world, leading the way in new, undeveloped areas such as 6G, which is expected to be available to the mass market by 2030 at the earliest.

In 2022, however, there are three areas that we predict will grow exponentially in the telecommunications jobs market in Asia:

IP is an area with a lot of growth potential. Networks are mainly IP-based nowadays, hence the increased desire for IP network engineers amongst telecommunications organisations. 

Software Engineers will certainly be in demand this year, especially those with software and Cloud/NFV skills. 

Finally, the nature of 5G networks means that AI and automation are becoming increasingly important so that networks functions are not only becoming virtualised but also automated. 

Overall, we predict the main growth areas for the telecommunications market in Asia in 2022 will be:

• IP network engineering.
• Cloud / NFV / Software engineering / DevOps.
• Big data / AI / Automation.

Below are three types of roles that we believe will be in demand telecommunication jobs in Asia this year along with their typical job descriptions:

HOT JOB ONE: IP/ NETWORKING / SYSTEM ENGINEER

• Provide overall design and engineering, implementation and migration planning, service design and proof of concept, implementation, testing, optimization services, customer training and advice, and on-site support. 
• Perform testing of new designs, features, and functionality as required by customers in a laboratory environment. 
• Work with internal technical teams for product placement and feature improvements for reliability, availability, and serviceability. 
• Validate patches and fixes to operating software that ensures they are implemented and functioning correctly in the pre-production test network and live network. 
• Troubleshoot equipment and network problems, initiate and track cases through to problem resolution on pre and postproduction issues. 

HOT JOB TWO: BIG DATA SOLUTIONS CONSULTANT

• Work directly with customers to implement Big Data solutions at scale. 
• Design and implement Hadoop and NiFi platform architectures and configurations for customers. 
• Perform platform installation and upgrades for advanced secured cluster configurations. 
• Analyze complex distributed production deployments and make recommendations to optimize performance. 
• Able to document and present complex architectures for the customer’s technical teams.

HOT JOB THREE: SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT ENGINEER

Experience in extensive software system maintenance, for example:

• traditional software business.
• CBS.
• VAS.
• Big data EDC.
• Innovative software OWS.
• IES, etc.
• Software coding skills such as python, JavaScript, etc.

The telecommunications jobs market in Asia is currently booming and 2022 is expected to see exponential growth. If you are considering a career move for a new job in telecommunications, contact me or our teams in Hong Kong or Shenzhen.