Download a guide to the knowledge objectives of the Network Technician option with details of supporting PTT courses

Download a guide to the knowledge objectives of the Digital Communications Technician option with details of supporting PTT courses

The realm of information communications technology is vast, from small home connections through to massive multi-national telecommunications networks. Given the wide diversity of communications networks, the technicians that build and maintain these networks require a large breadth of knowledge and a significant number of skills.

The Information Communications Technician (ICT) apprenticeship standard is being widely followed in the United Kingdom. This apprenticeship is ideal for both large and small organisations that require skilled engineers to help then build, upgrade and maintain the next generation of communications networks.

PTT has helped to train hundreds of apprentices following the Information Communications Technician standard over the past few years. Working with our apprenticeship provider partners, learners have studied a range PTT courses to fulfil the necessary knowledge objectives. Using a blended learning approach, PTT courses provide an engaging way for apprentices to obtain the necessary technical knowledge while building their skills through their job roles.

PTT courses are particularly suited to apprentices following the Network Technician and Digital Communications Technician options of the Information Communications Technician standard.

A guide to the knowledge objectives and PTT courses covering the Network Technician option of the Information Communications Technician standard can be downloaded here.

A guide to the knowledge objectives and PTT courses covering the Digital Communications Technician option of the Information Communications Technician standard can be downloaded here. 

To learn more about how PTT courses can support technical apprenticeships, please get in contact.

Download a guide to the knowledge objectives of the Telecoms Field Operative standard with details of supporting PTT courses

The telecommunications industry in the United Kingdom continues to undergo rapid changes. With communications providers needing to build and maintain networks fit for the future, a skilled workforce is a necessity.

The Level 2 Telecoms Field Operative apprenticeship standard is an attractive prospect for both small and large businesses looking to recruit the next generation of field engineers. Apprentices studying this standard will be given the knowledge and skills necessary to enable them to maintain, repair, upgrade, protect and install telecoms services within the UK’s National Telecom Access Network.

PTT supports many of the knowledge objectives in this standard through its catalogue of online courses. By completing PTT courses, apprentices can demonstrate they have the required theoretical knowledge necessary to guide them within their job roles.

To view the knowledge objectives and PTT courses supporting the Telecoms Field Operative apprenticeship standard, you can download a helpful guide here.

Whether you are an apprenticeship provider looking to improve your delivery of the Telecoms Field Operative standard while reducing costs, or an employer looking to provide your staff with necessary knowledge and skills, please contact PTT to discuss how our online courses can benefit you.

The recent reports of damage to a submarine telecommunications cable linking Finland and Estonia have focussed attention on the vulnerability of under-sea cables to damage both accidental and deliberate.

Over 400 optical fibre cables span the globe carrying over 99% of international telecommunications.

The effect of damage to these cables was demonstrated in 2008 when two cables (FLAG and SEA-ME-WE-4) were severed off the Egyptian coast. This resulted in severe disruption of data connectivity between Europe, the Middle East, and the Indian sub-continent. The severity of this event was exacerbated by the break in two cables so removing an alternative route. It has been reported that the damage was caused by the dragging of a ship’s anchor.

This was not an isolated incident: 100-150 submarine cables are severed each year, the majority due to fishing gear, or dragging anchors. Because of the frequency of cable disruption, a fleet of cable ships is kept on standby around the world to carry out repairs.

The possibility of the sabotage of maritime infrastructure has come to the fore due to recent events such as the damage to the gas pipeline between Russia and Germany with the finger of blame pointed at Russia. It has been reported that both Chinese and Russia ships were in the area when the damage to the Estonia-Finland cable occurred.

The incidents of damage to a nation’s submarine cable by another nation are not new. In fact, Britain pioneered cable cutting at the outbreak of World War 1 when the British ship Alert deliberately severed German submarine telegraph cables cutting off almost all of Germany’s communications with the outside world. This led to the Germans having to use Britain’s extensive global network which of course was monitored by the nefarious British.

More recent suspicions of sabotage have led to countries considering how to combat such activities. There are two main ways of achieving resilience: Providing more diverse routes with more cables and monitoring activities around existing cables.

The European Union executive has recommended that its members devise a “Secured Subsea Infrastructure for Europe” strategy. This could include a “EuroRing” of cables as a backbone for Europe’s own internet traffic.

The United Kingdom has commissioned two Multi-Role Ocean Surveillance (MROS) ships which will have the role of safeguarding critical undersea infrastructure. The first, RFA Proteus, entered into service this year.

PTT’s online “Telecommunications networks” course includes information about submarine cable systems. PTT’s “Telecommunications system security” course discusses the types of threat to telecoms networks and the measures that should be taken to protect them.