Openreach recruiting 400 engineers - mostly ex-armed forces personnel (From Dudley News)

Openreach recruiting 400 engineers - mostly ex-armed forces personnel

3:40pm Thursday 23rd August 2012 in Business Daily

FOUR hundred new engineers are to be recruited by Openreach, it was announced today, with the expectation being that most of the new jobs will be filled by ex-armed forces personnel.

The recruitment drive will see the total number of new engineers hired in 2012 rise to more than 1,000, following the employment of around 600 engineers in the first half of the year.

The new recruits will boost engineer numbers at Openreach as the business prepares to deploy more fibre broadband infrastructure across the UK.

The extra engineers will join the business’s mobile workforce, reacting to changes in service requirements from communications providers and helping tackle peaks in demand for fibre broadband around the country.

Today’s announcement was welcomed by Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Culture, Media, Olympics and Sport, who said: “This is good news not only for the 400 people who secure one of the new jobs but for the whole of the country. BT is creating jobs while rolling out the digital infrastructure UK businesses need to grow.

“Digital technology is fundamental to the way we live our lives and the way we do business, which is why we want the UK to have the best and the fastest superfast broadband in Europe by 2015.”

Olivia Garfield, Openreach chief executive, said: “These are challenging economic times so I’m delighted to be able to recruit these extra engineers.”

She added: “Fibre broadband will be vital to the future health of the UK. It has the potential to transform the economy and help create thousands of jobs. Our engineers are playing a critical role by deploying infrastructure that will underpin the economy for many years to come.”