TopBusiness unwraps GSM Academy, focuses on Africa

By Remmy Nweke

German-based Global Standards for Mobiles (GSM) Academy, subsidiary of Top Business AG, has commenced business for training of potential professionals, especially from Least Developing Countries (LDCs).

According to the Vice President, Telecommunication Networks Training & Consulting at Top Business AG, Mr. Bernhard Kuhn, GSM Academy is also dangling heavily discounted training opportunities for African technicians in mobile phone technology.

He noted that currently mobile telecommunications is enjoying a boom all over Africa which many analysts described as “the explosion of mobile phones on the continent in the past ten years as a revolution.”

Mr. Kuhn pointed out that while telephone users in most African countries before the advent of mobile telephony were somewhat exclusive for rich businessmen and women, top politicians and high-ranking bureaucrats.

“Today, market women, taxi drivers, street hawkers and even pupils spot their handsets everywhere,” he said.

The centre, he also said, is specifically to train skilled manpower for the African mobile telecommunications sector.

Explaining further, Mr. Kuhn said, the Academy consists of intensive three-month training at TOP Business AG’s training centre and a six-month practical attachment with a network operator in Europe.

The company, which has 15 years of experience in global mobile infrastructure education, trains workers for reputable companies such as Alcatel, Ericsson, Nokia, Nortel and Orange.

Equally, the GSM Academy, which is based on efficient knowledge transfer, trains students to become Operation and Maintenance Specialists, equipped with the knowledge and practical experiences.

Mr. Kuhn also informed that those who successfully undergo the training could be sure of finding a good job after graduation because their skills are in short supply in most African countries.

“What’s more, technicians in mobile telecommunications are enjoying far higher wages than workers in most other industries,” he noted.

On graduation, participants would be able to become self-employed by setting up repair shops for handsets, for example.

“Well-trained professionals have better chances of securing a job or improving their career prospects. Moreover, these people, as a kernel of knowledge, could multiply the specific know-how with their daily work” he asserted.

Only 32 participants, he said, would be admitted to the first course and it will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

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