BT adds nearly £2 billion to region's economy

It supported more than 23,000 jobs across the region, according to a new report from consultancy firm Hatch.

The report has looked at the spend of employees and suppliers of BT Group – which includes EE, BT, Plusnet and Openreach – and the estimated knock-on impact that has on economies across the country.

The group, the UK’s largest telecommunications company, employs around 6,800 people across the West Midlands.

It made a direct contribution to the region’s economy estimated at £1bn in the last financial year (2021-2022).

Through the company’s employees and its supply chain, and their subsequent spending, Hatch estimates the resulting boost to the region’s economy came to a total of £1.95bn.

The company’s spending with suppliers based in the West Midlands came to a total of £640 million. According to the study, BT Group’s combined activities supported a knock-on total of 23,200 jobs across the region.

The report also highlights BT Group’s presence across the West Midlands and its current major investment in the rollout of full-fibre broadband and 5G across the country. It also profiles the range of activities by BT Group colleagues across the UK, from the volunteers helping care home residents avoid isolation and loneliness, to the teams protecting customers and the UK from cyber threats.

If found that in Birmingham BT Group employed 4,140 people, while in the key Black Country sites of Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton 1,900 people were employed.

BT Group is also transforming its offices and contact centres across the UK and in 2021 opened a state-of-the-art new hub at Three Snow Hill in Birmingham making it one of the company’s main sites in the UK.

It is part of the company’s Better Workplace Programme, one of the largest workplace improvement schemes of its type ever undertaken in the UK. The five-year programme will see the company shift from having around 300 locations in the UK to around 30, with a focus on creating new, modern workspaces.

Philip Jansen, chief executive of BT Group, said: “BT Group plays a vital role at the heart of the UK economy. We're one of only a handful of companies that serves customers in every corner of the country.

“We've continued our major investment in building next generation full fibre and mobile connectivity rapidly across the UK. We've already reached 9.6 million premises with full fibre, and our 5G mobile network now reaches 60 per cent of the UK population. The benefits to families and businesses are huge: new jobs, economic growth and innovation, across every nation and region.

“We’re also transforming BT Group so that we’re fit to power the UK economy of the future. Our new state-of-the-art offices, spread across the UK, are a central part of that, bringing colleagues together in brilliant spaces that will enable collaboration and help us to better serve our customers.”