BT recruits 150 engineers for fibre rollout

BT has said it will create 150 permanent engineering jobs to help with the rollout of its super-fast fibre broadband network.

The company said on Thursday that it plans to take on the new recruits in May and that they will join the 500 ex-armed forces staff that were recruited by the company last year to help with the £2.5bn rollout.

"We're really pleased with the progress we are making in delivering our fibre deployment," Liv Garfield, chief executive of BT Openreach, said in a statement. "We can only do this if we have the right number and calibre of engineers on the ground. It is also fantastic to be able to offer permanent jobs to people in the current economic climate."

Chosen recruits will start next month and will be part of a "mobile engineering workforce" ready for deployment anywhere in the UK to help install fibre broadband, BT said. The company said that the new staff members will take the number of full-time engineers "devoted to the project" to more than 3,000.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) welcomed the news but noted that they had been pushing for BT to reduce its reliance on third-party contractors for some time.

"CWU has been pressing Openreach to further increase the levels of permanent direct labour and reduce their reliance on third party resource," Andy Kerr, CWU deputy general secretary told ZDNet UK in a statement. "We'll continue pushing for more of the same, but today's announcement is great news and takes the total direct labour recruitment in the past year to beyond 1,200."

On Thursday, BT started allowing customers — old and new alike — to start signing up for its higher speed fibre broadband packages, which increase upload and download speeds at no extra monthly cost.