BT's fibre broadband recruits ex-military muscle

Ex-armed forces personnel hired to aid superfast broadband rollout...

Ex-armed forces personnel will soon start work for BT to roll out superfast broadband to two-thirds of the UKPhoto: BT

BT Openreach has launched an initiative to recruit about 200 former armed forces personnel to help deploy superfast broadband.

The ex-forces men and women will begin working for BT's mobile engineering workforce this month after a fast-track recruitment and training programme. The new recruits will form part of a 3,000-strong team of engineers working on the superfast broadband network.

Olivia Garfield, CEO of Openreach, said in a statement that ex-forces personnel were well equipped to help drive the fibre rollout. "They are highly skilled, motivated and disciplined and have experience of complex engineering tasks in challenging environments," she said.

Lt Cdr Mark Walker from MoD's Training, Education, Skills and Resettlement staff, said in a statement that the MoD welcomes the initiative and "its promise of rewarding employment and career opportunities for many former armed forces personnel".

BT's Openreach broadband network will bring superfast broadband speeds of up to 40Mbps to about two-thirds of the UK by 2015.