Indian telecom industry is in a state of deep trouble. Past couple of months have witnessed telecos laying off employees in a bid to cut their losses and navigate through the great depression in the debt-ridden telecom sector. As per a 2017 report, experts had predicted that the telecos could lay off around 150,000 employees. The prediction for the first three quarters of financial year 2018-19 stands at around 90,000 employees. Amid the increasing number of jobs cuts in the industry, experts have made a rather bizarre prediction.

According to a report by the Economic Times, three big telecos in the country including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Reliance Jio could hire about 2,000 content specialists by the end of the year in a bid to increase data consumption by subscribers by offering a variety content which includes information on sports, music, and movies.

As per the report, the telecos are bringing in experts from all around the world which includes talent from the Silicon Valley and from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). They willing to pay some of them packages of over 1 crore to get them on board.

In the coming months, telecos will hire people who can mange content libraries and broadcaster relationships and predict consumer behaviour on content, Ajay Gupta, lead communications and digital practice of AT Kearney told ET. Telecos are also likely to head outside the homeland to people who are well versed in content security, content monetisation and user interface as these skills are difficult to find locally.

While Airtel is looking for people with app-centric skills like app designing, user interface, artificial intelligence, and personalisation and recommendation of engine design, Reliance Jio is reportedly looking at hiring candidates that will help to create and market programs related to education and vocational training. Vodafone India, on the other hand, recently hired a vice president for its content team.

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While this number might seem insignificant in comparison to the number of people being laid off, it certainly marks a stark diversion on part of the telecom companies from the existing trend and it also gives us some insights about the way content is going to change in the days ahead.