BT cuts thousands of jobs
BT has cut 7,731 jobs since the end of March, the company announced in its results for the six months ended 30 September 2026.
The telecoms giant said it cut its labour force to 90,000 people as part of an ongoing cost-cutting programme that has led to it increasing its pre-tax profit compared to the same point last year.
It said it was on track to deliver £3.5 billion of gross annualised cost savings by the end of the 2030 financial year. To this end, it has continued with a sweeping job cuts programme as well as an effort reduce network energy usage and repair volumes from its Openreach division.
The buildout of Openreach’s fibre network is slowing as it penetrates the market, which has allowed it to cut labour costs involved with the rollout of the infrastructure.
“We are building the UK’s digital backbone, connecting and protecting the country like no-one else, while accelerating our transformation as we create a better BT for all of us,” said BT chief executive Allison Kirkby.
“Our UK-centric strategy and transformation is clearly delivering with £312 million of annualised savings achieved in the first half, as we continue to simplify and modernise. “
“We are reiterating our mid-term guidance, including normalised free cash flow of circa £3 billion by the end of the decade,” she said.
More than 1.1 million net fibre-to-the-premises additions we recorded for Openreach in the first half of the year, and the total premises connected to the FTTP network now sit at 9.9 million. FTTP now accounts for 54% of Openreach’s broadband customer base.
Kirkby has been leading BT’s transformation and associated cost-cutting programme, and its results are beginning to show in the company’s financials, with profit before tax at £1.1 billion for the six months ended 30 September 2026.
This 12% increase in recorded profit before tax is attributed to savings from restructuring rather than revenue growth, which grew only by 1% in the period.
Last month, BT announced that it would buy TalkTalk and its wholesale arm PlatformX out of administration, adding 2.5 million customers in the process.
The deal has been the subject of complaint from competitors and is currently being looked at by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
