The UK’s largest broadband and mobile provider will cut up to 55,000 jobs—more than 40 percent of its workforce—by the end of the decade amid plans to shift to artificial intelligence (AI) and automated services.
Telecoms giant BT Group has around 130,000 employees but said it plans to reduce that number to between 75,000 and 95,000 by 2030, which means between 40,000 and 55,000 roles could be cut.
The company has been working through a transformation plan to build a national fibre network and roll out high-speed 5G mobile services.
Chief executive Philip Jansen said that BT will rely on a much smaller workforce and significantly reduced cost base after completing the fibre roll-out, digitising the way it works, adopting AI, and simplifying its structure.
“New BT Group will be a leaner business with a brighter future,” Jansen said on Thursday.
On Tuesday BT’s rival Vodafone announced plans to cut 11,000 jobs worldwide over a three-year period—the biggest job cuts in the history of the company, which employs around 100,000 people in Europe and Africa.
AI Transformation
There are “huge opportunities” to use AI, Jansen said, adding that generative AI large language models would be a leap forward that rivals the arrival of the smartphone.
Some 10,000 jobs will go as BT digitises, and as customers rely more on online and app-based communication rather than call centres for things like account servicing and upgrades.
Jansen said advanced AI will make services faster, better, and more seamless for customers.
“We’re not going to be in a situation where people feel like they’re dealing with a robot,” he said.
“We are multi-channel—we are online, we have 450 stores—and that’s not planning on changing at all. There are plenty of opportunities for our customers to deal with people at BT, plenty of people to speak to.”
He added: “New technologies drive new jobs in the end. But that is the second stage and it’s what we are all working on right now.”
BT said that once its full-fibre broadband and 5G network is rolled out, it will not need as many engineers to build and maintain the network.
More than 15,000 roles will go when investment in full-fibre begins to taper off, and more than 10,000 will disappear as the group stops running double networks like 3G and 4G.
“Overall effectiveness,” such as the creation of its new business unit, will reduce another approximately 5,000 roles, the firm said.
‘No Surprise’
The chief executive said BT’s ongoing job cuts will accelerate as it completes its fibre roll-out and switches off 3G.
“It’s a rolling programme, but it’s a five-to-seven-year landing zone,” he told reporters.
He added the firm would be working with unions throughout the job cuts and would also rely on natural attrition—when an employee leaves the company but is not replaced.
The Communication Workers Union (CWU) said the announcement of job cuts was “no surprise.”
A CWU spokesperson said: “The introduction of new technologies across the company along with the completion of the fibre infrastructure build replacing the copper network was always going to result in less labour costs for the company in the coming years.
“However, we have made it categorically clear to BT that we want to retain as many direct labour jobs as possible and that any reduction should come from sub-contractors in the first instance and natural attrition.”
The union also stressed that it wants to be “in the room” discussing the new skills required of the workforce as they move to a more digital network.
Lorenz Duchamps, PA Media, and Reuters contributed to this report.
