BT to cut 55,000 jobs

BT announces cutting up to 40% of its global workforce.

The telecoms giant BT has announced it plans to become a ‘leaner’ business and cut up to 55,000 jobs by 2030.

The company employs 130,000 staff worldwide with about 80,000 staff in the UK.

BT CEO Philip Jansen said: “By continuing to build and connect like fury, digitize the way we work and simplify our structure, by the end of the 2020s BT Group will rely on a much smaller workforce and a significantly reduced cost base. New BT Group will be a leaner business with a brighter future.”

BT reported a 12% drop in pre-tax profits to £1.7bn but also made a £123m loss for the year in its pay-tv sport joint venture with Warner Bros Discovery.

News of the jobs cuts has seen shares in BT fall this morning, with shares falling as low as 133.2p, from 148.1p last night, the lowest since early February.

John Ferrett, national secretary of Prospect, which managers at BT) says workers said: “Prospect are deeply concerned by the scale of these cuts. Announcing such a huge reduction in this way will be very unsettling for workers who did so much to keep the country connected during the pandemic.2

The news of BT jobs cuts comes just days after fellow telecoms giant Vodafone said they would be cutting 11,000 jobs worldwide.