The BT Group logo appears on a smartphone.
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LONDON – Britain’s telecommunications giant BT Group said on Thursday that it will cut between 40,000 to 55,000 of its workforce between 2028 and 2030.
The redundancies, which will include both direct BT employees and third-party workers, will mark a 31-42% reduction in the company’s workforce.
“By continuing to build and connect like crazy, digitizing the way we work and simplifying our structure, by the end of the 2020s BT Group will rely on a much smaller workforce and a significantly reduced cost base. The new BT Group will be a leaner business with a brighter future, says BT CEO Philip Jansen in a statement.
BT’s latest large-scale downsizing saw the company announce in 2018 that it would cut 13,000 jobs over a three-year period.
It’s not alone in the UK telecoms sector to play redundancies – Vodafone said on Tuesday it would cut 11,000 jobs over three yearspredicts a decline in free cash flow.
The announcement comes just as BT Group early Thursday reported a 5% rise to £7.9 billion ($9.8 billion) in adjusted core revenue for the full year leading to March, citing growth in its Openreach network arm and consumers, which offset a decline in the company’s performance.
Pre-tax profit reached £1.73 billion, down 12% due to higher depreciation from network construction and specific items, about which no further details were disclosed.
The company expects pro forma EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) growth in 2024, along with capital expenditure of £5bn to £5.1bn.
It expects it will be a “significant beneficiary of the UK government’s full cost scheme” between the 2024-2026 financial year and pay no UK cash tax for the next three years.
BT shares were down 6.31% at 1:40pm London time.
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