Telecom Beginner Course
Learn a rare skill, build a career
From no telecom background to job-ready. Four sections, 20 lessons: how the industry works, then 2G, 3G and 4G — taught in the order the networks were actually built.
What you’ll learn
- Explain how a telecom network is planned, built, operated and optimised
- Trace the evolution from 1G to 5G and understand why each generation exists
- Describe the full GSM architecture: MS, BTS, BSC, MSC, HLR and VLR
- Read the GSM air interface — ARFCN, TDMA frames, timeslots and burst structure
- Distinguish the GSM channel families and walk through a complete call flow
- Explain UMTS architecture, the WCDMA air interface, channels and power control
- Describe 4G LTE fundamentals, the SAE core network and the LTE air interface
- Hold your own in a planning or optimization conversation, and in an interview
Course content
4 sections · 20 lessons · 8 hr 10 min total length
INTRODUCTORY VIDEOS
How the telecom industry works end to end, and how wireless networks evolved from one generation to the next.
- The Telecom Lifecycle PT 1Coming soon
- Free preview16 min
- Generation of Wireless Telecom Networks PT 125 min
- Generation of Wireless Telecom Networks PT 246 min
2G VIDEOS
GSM from the ground up: architecture, the air interface, channels, timing, interference and call flow, through to GPRS and EDGE.
- 2G GSM Training1 hr
- GSM Air Interface + ARFCN1 hr 27 min
- GSM CHANNELS PT 114 min
- GSM CHANNELS PT 211 min
- GSM CHANNELS PT 331 min
- GSM SLOT & BURST STRUCTURE48 min
- INTERFERENCE IN GSMComing soon
- GSM CALL FLOW PT 112 min
- GSM CALL FLOW PT 2Coming soon
- 2.5G GPRS + 2.75G EDGEComing soon
3G VIDEOS
UMTS architecture, the WCDMA air interface, channels and power control.
- 3G UMTS14 min
- UMTS AIR INTERFACEComing soon
- UMTS CHANNELS22 min
- UMTS POWER CONTROL29 min
4G VIDEOS
LTE fundamentals, the System Architecture Evolution core, and the LTE air interface.
- 4G LTE BASICS & SAE24 min
- 4G LTE AIR INTERFACE51 min
Requirements
- Secondary-school level maths
- No telecom or engineering background required
- A computer and a stable internet connection
- A calculator or spreadsheet for the link budget and KPI exercises
Description
One course that takes you from no telecom background to job-ready. It starts with how the industry itself works — the lifecycle of a network from idea to optimisation — then walks the generations in order: 2G GSM in depth, then 3G UMTS, then 4G LTE.
Four sections, 20 lessons, eight hours of video. Each generation is taught against the one before it, so nothing is memorised in isolation: once you understand why GSM divides time into slots, WCDMA power control and the LTE air interface stop being separate subjects and start being the same problem solved with better tools.
Nothing here assumes an engineering degree or prior telecom experience. If you can follow secondary-school maths and you work through the material in order, you will finish able to follow a real planning or optimization discussion.
Who this course is for
- Graduates and career changers entering the telecom industry
- IT, electronics and IT-support people moving into wireless
- Field technicians who want the theory behind the numbers
- Anyone preparing for a first telecom technical interview