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BT is cutting 4,000 jobs

BT is to cut 4,000 jobs following a "challenging" year that has seen its chief executive strippe...
Newstalk
Newstalk

09.54 11 May 2017


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BT is cutting 4,000 jobs

BT is cutting 4,000 jobs

Newstalk
Newstalk

09.54 11 May 2017


Share this article


BT is to cut 4,000 jobs following a "challenging" year that has seen its chief executive stripped of his annual bonus amid a 19% fall in profits to £2.4bn.

The telecoms firm said managerial and back-office posts would be lost worldwide as it looked for efficiencies across its operations.

The moves - described as "difficult decisions" by the firm's remuneration committee - follow BT's accounting scandal in Italy which helped wipe billions from the company's stock market value earlier this year.

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Problems also included the telecoms regulator imposing a record £42m fine on the company for "serious failings" at its Openreach division, leaving BT also facing a £300m compensation bill.

Openreach is a BT subsidiary which owns the pipes and telephone cables which connect most British businesses to the UK's national broadband and telephone network.

BT had, only weeks previously, agreed to a legal separation of its infrastructure arm after pressure from industry rivals on competition grounds.

In addition to the group's results for the last financial year, the company also announced that Openreach was launching a consultation with BT's competitors on how best to enhance broadband connectivity across Britain. Ideas include "building the investment case for a large-scale 'full fibre' network and bringing faster broadband speeds to 'not-spots' which can only order less than 10 Mbps services today", BT said.

"The committee has made a number of difficult decisions this year in light of these circumstances and exercised its discretion accordingly," the chair of its remuneration committee Tony Ball commented.


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