BT has cut 5,000 jobs after the telecoms giant reported a decline of 242,000 Openreach broadband customers in Q2.

The group said it was decreasing its total workforce to 111,000, after citing customer losses to competitors and a weaker broadband market.

BT, publishing its H1 results for the six months to 30 September, announced an 11% decline in pre-tax profit against last year, which slipped to £862m. The group also saw its reported revenue dip by 3% to £9.8bn in the H1 period, which it put to declines in legacy voice, lower mobile handset trading volumes and declines in its international business.

At the same time, BT also revealed that it had moved ahead with a five-year £3bn cost reduction programme to 2029 with £247m gross annualised cost savings during the latest H1 period, for a cumulative total of £1.2bn through the first 18 months of the programme.

While the 5,000 job cuts equate to a 6% decline in the total workforce from 116,000 in H1, BT revealed it still has a target of between 75,000 and 90,000, indicating further jobs cuts ahead.

“Our UK focus and radical simplification and modernisation are helping to offset declines from our international and legacy businesses and higher labour-related costs since the start of this tax year,” commented BT chief executive, Allison Kirkby.

In its trading statement, BT did also state that its FY26 guidance and mid-term outlook had been reiterated.

Between the 2027 and 2030 financial years, BT is projecting “sustained” adjusted group revenue and adjusted UK service revenue growth, as legacy voice drags abate and earnings growth ahead of revenue is enhanced further by the ongoing cost transformation programme.

The telecoms giant also declared an interim dividend of 2.45p pence per share, which is 30% of last year’s full dividend.

“We remain on track to deliver our financial outlook for this year, our cash flow inflection to £2bn in FY27 and £3bn by the end of the decade, and we’re announcing an increased interim dividend to 2.45 pence per share,” said Kirkby.

“We’re building the UK’s digital backbone, connecting the country like no one else and accelerating our transformation,” she added.

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