BT Cuts Almost 8,000 Jobs Since March as Six-Month Profit Rises to £1.1 Billion

British telecoms group BT has cut almost 8,000 jobs since the end of March. The company said its workforce had fallen by 7,731 to 90,000, excluding staff in its international business, which is being spun out in a joint venture with the US telecoms company Verizon.

Two years ago BT had a workforce, including contractors, of about 130,000. The current figure is far below that, as the group pushes ahead with sweeping cost cuts across the business.

Most of the cuts have been at BT's Openreach division, as the buildout of its fibre network slows. The group is also cutting staff as part of a drive to slash billions in costs by 2030.

The cuts helped bolster BT's results. Its pre-tax profit rose by 12% to £1.1bn in the six months to the end of September.

BT shares, which are listed in London, shot up by as much as 6% in early trading on Thursday, touching a five-year high and ranking among the best performers across the FTSE 100 that day.

Chief executive Allison Kirkby had been a BT board member and became chief executive in February 2024. She has overseen a multibillion-pound cost-cutting programme, and this year raised its savings target from £3bn by 2029 to £3.7bn by 2030.

The group's headcount is now expected to end the decade at between 75,000 and 80,000, towards the lower end of an estimated range of 75,000 to 90,000 set out in 2023. At that time, BT said the introduction of AI across its business could result in the elimination of the equivalent of about 10,000 roles.

Kirkby's pay and bonus package more than doubled last year to £5.6m, the biggest pay award to a boss of the telecoms company in more than a decade. Shares in BT have risen by more than 70% since she started in her role.

Kirkby has also overseen the £400m takeover of struggling smaller rival TalkTalk. On Thursday she said she was unable to provide any details on plans for the business, as the deal was still under regulatory review.

TalkTalk, headquartered in Salford in Greater Manchester, employs about 900 people. The rescue deal secured telecoms supply to 2.5m households and vital public service customers including hospitals and schools.

Virgin Media O2, which had also looked at buying TalkTalk, reacted angrily to the deal at the time, calling it a stitch-up that would further boost BT's dominant position. According to estimates by Enders Analysis, BT is the biggest broadband provider in the UK with a market share of about 30%, and Openreach, the broadband network owned by BT, is also TalkTalk's biggest supplier.

The company told investors on Thursday it had record demand for Openreach's full-fibre network, so far rolled out to 24.1m homes, and is targeting 25m by the end of the year. Earlier this week, Virgin Media O2 announced plans to cut thousands of jobs in an £800m cost-savings drive.