BT said it will cut more than 40% of its workforce by 2030
BT Group has revealed plans to cut up to 55,000 jobs — more than 40% of its workforce by 2030. While CEO Philip Jansen told press that the company is looking become “leaner,” he also shared that 10,000 of these jobs will likely be replaced by AI, particularly roles in customer service and network management.
Jansen said the job cuts will happen on a rolling basis, accelerating as BT shuts off 3G and completes its fiber build. Once these two things happen, he explained, and once everything is digitized and AI has been adopted, the company would need a smaller workforce and to focus on reducing costs.
Specifically, Jensen predicted that running the digital networks of the near future, will require 10,000 fewer network engineers. Advanced technologies like automation and AI, he continued, will replace another 10,000.
BT said that by the end of its 2030 financial year, it plans to go from 130,000 workers to between 75,000 and 90,000. According to reports, the cuts will affect both BT employees and contractors.
BT’s willingness to discuss how its replacing employees with AI likely won’t sit well with the telecom workforce, which is currently experiencing notable changes when it comes to the desired skills and expectations as the result of 5G’s evolution into a more mature, software-defined and cloud-native network. While these workers, especially those in network management, have been told time and time again that AI won’t take their jobs, BT’s recent announcement may cast some doubt on such claims.
Earlier this week, Vodafone also announced job cuts to the tune of 11,000 worldwide. According to the company, the cuts will occur over the next three years and will help it restore its slipping competitive edge.
