The company believes its full fibre broadband and 5G networks will require fewer workers to build and maintain.

As part of efforts to cut costs and increase profitability, BT has announced plans to substantially reduce the number of employees, with artificial intelligence (AI) set to replace thousands of positions.

The company’s “total labor resource” will be reduced from 130,000 to between 75,000 and 90,000 by the end of the decade, as part of a “rolling plan,” according to its explanation of annual results.

It stated that the affected individuals, estimated at a maximum of 55,000, included both its employees and third-party contractors.

The company noted that the current total personnel of 130,000 includes 30,000 non-staff members.

It did not provide a breakdown of how many direct employees would be affected by the reductions. But BT anticipated that the majority of the reduction could be achieved through natural attrition rather than layoffs.

Philip Jansen, chief executive officer, told investors he expected AI technology to supplant approximately 10,000 jobs.

He stated that by the end of the 2020s, BT would have a much smaller workforce and a considerably reduced cost base as a result of the completion of its fiber rollout and its broader digital transformation.

New BT Group will also be a leaner business with a brighter future,” he stated.

He explained that BT would utilize AI to improve customer service and seize additional business opportunities.

“We’re not going to be in a situation where people feel like they’re dealing with a robot,” he said.

We have multichannel, online, and 450 stores, and we have no plans to change this.

Just days after Vodafone announced 11,000 job cuts, BT announced its workforce reduction plans.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU), which launched a series of strikes over pay at BT last year until an agreement was reached in November, stated that the company’s announcement of job cuts came as “no surprise”

A spokesperson added, “The introduction of new technologies across the company and the completion of the fiber infrastructure build, which replaced the copper network, were always going to result in lower labor costs for the company in the coming years.”

“However, BT knows we want as many direct labour employment as feasible. And that any reductions should come from subcontractors and natural attrition in the first instance.”

The company predicted major job layoffs a year earlier due to energy-driven inflation.

Adjusted core earnings rose 5% to £7.9 billion, meeting market forecasts.

Due to greater cash capital expenditures, free cash flow for the March year fell 5% to £1.3 billion.

The market opened down 9%.