Telecom sector salary hikes for FY25 slip to 9%

Mumbai: Salary hikes in the broad telecom sector are estimated to have tapered down to an average 9% for fiscal 2025, as a talent war that drove up increments to a record high two years ago has ended and demand for mobile phones has slowed down.

"In FY23, the telecom sector emerged as one of the top paymasters, with a maximum salary increment of 10.19%. This surge was driven by significant investments in 5G technology and the corresponding need for skilled professionals to manage the new infrastructure," said Munira Loliwala, vice president (strategy and growth) at staffing services firm TeamLease Digital.

In the following fiscal year, FY24, the average increment was 9.5%.

"While telecom (service) providers are able to offer attractive hikes ranging between 10% and 12% (in FY25), it is the handset makers in the telecom manufacturing space that have reduced hikes this FY, hovering around 7.2% to 8.7%," TeamLease Digital said.

Mobile phone shipments were flat in 2024 and are expected to again be muted this year, leading to an inventory pile up, said industry experts, adding that this had weighed on increments.

But in the telecom services segment, Bharti Airtel, the second largest operator that had 23,628 on-roll employees at the end of FY24, provided salary hikes in the range of 10-12%, people familiar with the matter said. Loss-making Vodafone Idea, with over 9,000 employees, also gave hikes of 8-11%, they said. Reliance Jio Infocomm has yet to announce the hikes for this year. It is the market leader and the largest paymaster in the telecom services space, especially in R&D roles.

The three telcos didn't respond to ET's emails seeking comment.

ET had previously reported that the telecom sector's overall workforce growth in FY25 was expected to slow to around 30% at 6.79 million, according to TeamLease, compared with 31% in FY24 and 51% in FY23. The slower headcount growth reflects a fall in capital expenditure at Jio and Airtel that have completed their 5G rollouts.

Meanwhile, attrition for telecom companies slowed to 43.4% from 58.4% in FY23 as competition for talent eased.

"Despite this, telecom companies continue actively recruiting for positions such as field sales executives, customer relationship executives, retail executives, installation engineers, fibre repair executives, and cell site repair staff," said Sumit Kumar, chief strategy officer, TeamLease Degree Apprenticeships.

Interestingly, apprentice roles such as telecom tower technician, in-store promoter, network engineer and assembly line operator have grown at an annual rate of 37% over the past two years.

"Starting from 12,268 apprentices in 2021-22, the industry engaged 22,918 apprentices by 2023-24, highlighting their importance in cultivating talent and addressing evolving skill demands," Kumar said.

While industry leaders remain cautious, by FY26, the Indian telecom sector is expected to require about 20 million skilled workers in 5G-centric technologies, the company said.