Technical gains

SP Kochhar

The National Skill Mission under the leadership of MSDE empowers the youth of the country to become more employable. Different sector skill councils have a comprehensive list of job roles that create a unique employment opportunity for a candidate in the organisation. Here’s a look at the scope for Tower Technicians in the telecom industry. 

Out of 39 job roles in the telecom industry, tower technician is one  of the 39 job roles earmarked in the telecom industry. So, let's comprehend what exactly is a tower technician and what kind of skills and training a candidate would be needed to become a tower technician.

Work profile

Tower technician is also known as a Site Engineer / Tower Engineer / Site Technician in the telecom industry. An individual in this role is responsible to maintain site live 24x7, repair level-1 faults at telecom tower site, level-1 preventive and corrective maintenance and report faults to the supervisor in time. He/she also need to travel inter-state and work during odd hours, when required.

The key attributes of a site engineer are sound technical knowledge, self-discipline, confidence, team spirit, analytical skills and problem-solving ability. In addition, he must also have good communication skills and ability to work under pressure.

Getting in

The minimum educational qualification required for this job role is Plus II and/or ITI Diploma in Electrical/ mechanical and maximum qualification is graduation. Moreover, the minimum age required for tower technician is 18 years and 0-3 years of experience is desired for it.

Candidates can register themselves for training at BSNL Centres through Telecom Sector Skill Council. TSSC has some training partners at various locations who train candidates on Tower Technician job role. The duration of this course is 300 hours and it is available free of charge through PMKVY (Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojna).  

IN DEMAND

The demand for tower technicians is huge due to growth of telecom sector. According to a study about skilling requirement approximately 3,56,332 vacancies are likely to arise for this job role in the next five years.

National Occupational Standards (NOS)

National Occupational Standards are applicable in the Indian as well as global context. It states the standards of performance a candidate must attain when performing any role in the organisation. An individual must have knowledge and understanding of the job role which is required to meet that standard consistently. Following are some of the NOS that must be maintained at the tower site. 

Site hygiene: This is about maintaining the site hygiene of AC, DG, PIU, SMPS and battery bank, as per the organisation’s norms. The individual must know the basic use of mechanical equipment, the layout of the tower site, general aspects of electrical wiring and safety requirements

Preventive maintenance: The candidate on the job must stick to preventive maintenance (PM) plan, conduct site PM, keep a check on site up-time, execute unique site down PM and provide timely resolutions to trouble tickets raised. 

Site management: Under this an individual has to perform operational activities at the tower site like submission of electricity bill, alarm check etc.  

Task Reporting: It’s about reporting and record-keeping as per company’s processes and defined SLAs (Service Level Agreement). The individual must be able to escalate faults to a supervisor at the site, fill the preventive and corrective maintenance checklists, accurately report diesel filling, EB and DG reading. 

Corrective maintenance: This OS unit is about corrective maintenance of DG, AC, PIU, SMPS, Battery Bank and Shelter, within defined SLA. 

So, if you are looking forward to building your career as a tower technician in the telecom industry, you must adhere to the basic fundamentals required for this job role.

— The writer is CEO, Telecom Sector Skill Council