BT has revealed plans to axe 13,000 jobs and close its London headquarters as part of a £500million cost-cutting strategy.
The telecoms giant will cut the roles, made up mostly of back office and middle management, in the next three years.
It comes as the British firm struggles following a poor financial performance that led to the announcements of 4,000 redundancies in May last year.
The company, which has a 106,000-strong workforce, is said to be looking to rebuild investor confidence after an accounting scandal in Italy last year.
BT is set to axe around 13,000 jobs, most of which will be back office and middle management roles, the company has confirmed
Chief executive Gavin Patterson said the restructuring, which comes after a tough 2017, would focus on the essential services needed by consumers and businesses.
BT will hire about 6,000 new engineers and front line customer service staff to support its roll out of a fibre and 5G mobile networks.
Mr Patterson said: ‘This position of strength will enable us to build on the disciplined delivery and risk reduction of the last financial year, a period during which we delivered overall in-line with our financial and operational commitments whilst addressing many uncertainties.’
BT also agreed a new 13-year funding plan for its pension, which had a deficit of £11.3billion at the end of June.
It will pay 2.1 billion pounds into the scheme by 2020 and a further £2billion will be funded by the issuance of bonds.
The new strategy comes after the group reported a three per cent drop in fourth-quarter revenue to £5.9billion.
The figure fell slightly below analysts’ expectations, while core earnings came in at £2.1billion, up one per cent.
Mr Patterson spent billions last year buying up expensive football rights to try and lure customers to its paid TV service.
The telecoms company also spent £12.5billion to acquire EE, who were then the UK’s largest mobile provider.
But shares in the company have been cut in nearly half over the past two years as a result.
The group has also been affected by an accounting scandal at its Italian division, when it was caught using ‘improper accounting practices’ to the tune of £530million.
The new strategy from BT chief executive Gavin Patterson (pictured) comes after the group reported a three per cent drop in fourth-quarter revenue to £5.9billion