As in many industries, there is often a gap between knowledge and the practical application of that knowledge. To bridge the gap, Huge Telecom has revealed a training centre dedicated to the development of telecommunication professionals in SA.
This is according to James Herbst, Huge Telecom's CEO, who said: “We've found that there is a definite skills shortage in SA as far as telecoms professionals are concerned. Tertiary institutions do not fully equip students for the type of work required in the real world, and so we've needed to fill that gap.”
Huge Telecom has a wealth of expertise in the telecommunications industry, notes Herbst. “We wanted to find additional ways in which we could leverage this asset. The decision to offer MICT Seta-accredited training was based on increasing recognition for our staff once they had successfully completed the training, and aims to provide skills training to underprivileged candidates with a technical background and a desire to learn and grow.”
Huge Telecom is one of only three telecommunications companies in SA accredited by the MICT Seta to provide such training. It joins the likes of Telkom and Neotel in its endeavour to develop the skills base within the South African telecommunications industry.
The training will produce well-rounded professionals who have both a firm understanding of telecommunications in general, and the specific technical skills required in the industry, notes Rajen Pillay, MD of Huge Telecom's Business Support division.
“Our aim is to give students a broad understanding of the industry and telecommunications protocols, and then build their technical competencies from this solid foundation.”
Huge Telecom's training includes everything from telephony signalling, billing services and voice security, to media codecs and gateway control protocols, and will be aimed at both the experienced and inexperienced.
Herbst says the accreditation is the result of many months of hard work and being able to build valuable skills for the country, as well as to ensure a strong supply of technical capacity going forward.
“We have also managed to document a decade-and-a-half's worth of valuable intellectual property, which up until now, has only been in the heads of our staff,” concluded Herbst.
The company plans to initially run the programme with its internal staff, after which it will open it up to other companies, school-leavers and graduates in early 2012.
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