Telecommunications services

The Sectoral Activities Department of the ILO carried out an Action Programme to promote social dialogue on skills, employability and equal opportunities in telecommunications services, focused on sub-Saharan African countries for the 2006-2007 biennium. The Programme, which was extended to 2008-09, consisted of research, policy guidance and activities to promote training, employability and social dialogue, including a regional meeting for nine countries in sub-Saharan Africa, namely Cameroon, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and with follow-up in three countries. In Cameroon and Zambia, sub-regional workshops were held, while in Uganda, a project on child labour in the telecommunications sector.

The Action Programme based itself on a situation analysis from 2005 that indicated that the development of the Internet and mobile telephony, along with other new technologies, privatization and deregulation, was completely transforming the telecommunications industry in the decade 2000-2010, that further changes were under way, and that several phone technologies were coexisting and beginning to converge in Next Generation Networks (NGNs). These developments implied that telecommunications enterprises would have to adapt rapidly to changes in their market, while their workforces would need to develop new competencies to ensure their continued employability. Technological change was also likely to have a significant impact on employment, labour relations and work organization in telecommunications services. In Africa, these developments were having a major impact, as efforts to bridge the digital divide were helped by the boom in mobile telephony, but hampered by the lack of infrastructure necessary for high-speed Internet connections.

Success in the industry is dependent upon developing significant, future-oriented skills, in which ILO constituents cooperate in a positive approach towards training for employability and change. Lifelong learning can help avoid skills shortages, improve job quality and satisfaction, enhance opportunities, meet consumers’ requirements and improve quality of service. The ILO, through this Action Programme, encouraged dialogue on the content of training, commitment by workers to their own skill development, and equal opportunities in access to skills development.

Countries covered: Cameroun, Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, Gabon, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

• European Union, Directorate-General on the Information Society
• International Telecommunication Union
• Universal Postal Union (UPU)
• World Trade Organization, Services trade
• International Organization of Employers (IOE)
• Union Network International (UNI), Postal & Logistics Services Sector
• Union Network International (UNI) Telecom Sector