BT Openreach to hire 3000 trainees for fiber deployment

LONDON (Reuters) – BT The Openreach Network Unit is recruiting 3,000 additional engineering apprentices to support the deployment of high-speed fiber optic broadband to home in 3 million homes and businesses around the world. at the end of 2020.

The new jobs – about 1,600 of which will be new jobs – are a continuation of the largest recruitment campaign ever undertaken by the British company to recruit 6,500 apprentice engineers this year and next year, he said Monday.

Openreach, which is 100% owned by BT, operates the largest broadband network in the UK, with infrastructure used by broadband providers such as Sky and TalkTalk. and Vodafone as well as BT.

Last year, the company adopted a new "fiber first" strategy that favors the ultra-fast connections required by UK residents and businesses.

Previously, he had largely focused on fiber-copper technology, which offered different speeds depending on the distance of the fiber optic network.

Openreach also announced Monday the 11 new cities and towns where it would build fiber optic networks this year, including Bury, the Greater Glasgow area and Salford, bringing the total number of sites to 25.

The new jobs were announced as Secretary of State at Work and Amber Rudd was to open the new business training school in Peterborough.

"This is a huge expansion of the number of highly skilled and well-paying jobs across the UK, which is a further demonstration of the success we've had in the past year. employment since 2010, "she said at the opening, according to excerpts from his speech.

(Report by Paul Sandle, edited by Catherine Evans)