I have 30 years experience in building telecoms networks all over the world. The implementation side of the deals have changed and will change even more. The US has always been different than the rest of the world. I remember in my days of microwave implementation -back in the 70's. European companies always implemented using their own staff. In the US, companies were hiring people with "truck and tools" to do the job.
In the early eighties, Euro vendors -big multinationals that not existing in the US since ATT, pre-LU, didn't export telecoms eqt- started doing some sort of outsourcing. If a local company was in market downturn, such as Brazil in the period mentioned, they would take this Brazilian staff and placed where the market was hot. For instance in the oil exporting countries.
That was only the start. In the next ten years, more and more projects were being executed by foreigners and the departments that existed in their HQs in Stockholm, Sweden, Paris or Tokyo, started being phased out.
Nowadays, very few people are employed with the purpose of implementing a project. Too expensive. They have to work according to the rules of the country of origin. Things like 35-hour week, no overtime, six weeks of holiday, with no organization to back him up the guy is not productive etc. Not the people you could count on in a rollout with tight schedule and high penalties. The people from HQ still want to keep some jobs for the boys but in this downturn they will surely will be phased out forever.
The next built out of telecoms will be built much like GSM projects, only by outsiders. From HQ you will have a project director, a sales director and a commercial person.
What I am seeing in my crystal ball now is that perhaps ERICY, NOK or SI just sell the stuff to the operator and it goes around seeking companies to implement it. The people are everywhere but not in the vendors' headquarters. They just need to be contracted and managed by companies such as Wireless Facilities or IFCI or some small 'boutique' of some 20 people who have known each other from other projects
The big buildout is already done. The next years will see only small scope projects. Time will come when it will be necessary to pull out all those BTS and BSC and replace them by new eqt. Time will come when it will be necessary to dismantle all those 5ESS, AXE, DMS and EWSD since they will become obsolete in the next ten years. Then perhaps there will be a big build out once again, but you will be retired Frank. |
