British telecom giant BT group has announced plans to lowering its headcount by more than 40% by the end of this decade.
The multinational said it will trim roughly 55,000 jobs in total over the next five to seven years.
Nearly 20% of those, it added, will be related to automation and digitisation that also includes the use of artificial intelligence, AI
However, the larger portion of layoffs will occur once the London-based corporation completes development on its 5G and fiber networks, the CEO, Philip Jansen said.
By continuing to build and connect like fury, digitise the way we work and simplify our structure, by the end of the 2020s, BT Group will rely on a much smaller workforce and a significantly reduced cost base.
BT says its profit declined 12% in fiscal 2023. Also on Thursday, BT Group reported a hit to its pre-tax profit for fiscal 2023.
The telecom giant said its profit before tax sunk 12% in the recently concluded year to £1.73 billion ($2.16 billion) due to increased depreciation. In comparison, analysts had called for £1.92 billion instead.
BT Group paid a final dividend of 5.39 pence per share on Thursday even though its revenue also ticked down slightly from £20.85 billion last year to £20.68 billion in fiscal 2023.
