BT on engineering recruitment drive to meet fibre broadband demand

Rising demand for fibre optic broadband has prompted BT to announce a major expansion of its engineering recruitment programme.

Openreach, the telecoms giant's local access network business, is creating a further 500 engineering jobs – the vast majority of which will be permanent positions.

The drive is already "well underway" and will take the number of engineers employed by the company since April to around 2,400, including more than 300 modern apprentices.

Most of the new roles will be based in London, Surrey and Aberdeen, with around half of the intake to be given jobs that are specifically focused on delivering improved service to Openreach customers.

Culture Secretary Sajid Javid hailed the announcement as "tremendous news", pointing out that the government's plan to bring superfast broadband to 95 per cent of the UK means a skilled engineering workforce is "vital".

Joe Garner, Chief Executive of Openreach, added: "We are recruiting more people so that we can continue to build our network rapidly and serve our customers better. 

"Broadband growth is great for our customers and for Britain."