ONE of the country’s biggest telecommunications firms says it has provided a £3bn boost the South East economy.
And it says around £1.9bn of that was spent with suppliers from across the region.
Consultancy firm Hatch was commissioned to look at the spend of employees and suppliers of The BT Group, which includes EE, BT, Plusnet and Openreach – and the estimated knock-on impact that has on economies across the country.
It directly employs 6,500 people across the South East, who made a direct contribution to the region’s economy estimated at £1 billion in the last financial year (2021/22).
And 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 £3.2 billion.
According to the study, BT Group’s combined activities supported a knock-on total of 34,400 jobs across the region.
The report highlights BT Group’s presence across the South East 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.
BT Group says it is transforming its offices and contact centres across the UK and has already opened two brand new regional hubs in Birmingham and Bristol.
New hubs are set to open in Manchester and Cardiff this year, and offices in Belfast and Glasgow have undergone major refurbishments.
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% 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.”
