BT has created up to 190 jobs in Wales and is looking to recruit as many as 1,600 engineers across the UK in the coming months to enhance its Openreach broadband service.
The company has encouraged women to take up the engineering jobs and also prefers ex-armed sources personnel to fill up vacancies. It is particularly keen to recruit in areas such as Newtown, Cardigan, Bangor, Wrexham, and locations around Wales.
“Not only are we building a superfast broadband network, which is giving a major boost to Welsh households and businesses, we are creating highly skilled local jobs offering exciting careers, such as those announced today,” Ann Beynon, BT director for Wales said.
“Working with our partners in the public sector we are determined to ensure that Wales is in the best position possible to take full advantage of the superfast broadband revolution.”
Joe Garner, CEO of Openreach claimed the new recruits to be a “welcome boost” to an engineering workforce that completes hundreds of jobs each week. Garner believes that Openreach would improve the company’s network which is connected to about 28 million premises in UK.
The new recruits will handle the task of bringing high-speed fibre broadband to the communities. BT’s local network business, Outreach, has about 19 million customers, roughly two thirds of the country. The company said the engineers would fix faulty lines and install new lines in areas which have not yet received fibre broadband.
Openreach currently employs 31,600 staff including the last major recruitment of 1,200 staff last year to ensure timely roll out of its fibre-optic network.
Watchdog Ofcom is expected to publish its final decisions on the new sanctions to ensure BT fixes faulty lines in 2 working days and lay new lines within 12 days.
