Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on June 15, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleBT CEO Allison Kirkby expects AI to deepen job cuts beyond the planned 40,000 by 2030, with potential Openreach spin-off considerations.
(Corrects typographical error in headline)
(Reuters) -BT Group Chief Executive Allison Kirkby said advances in artificial intelligence could deepen significant job cuts under way at the British telecoms company, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.
Kirkby told the newspaper that BT's plans to cull more than 40,000 jobs and strip out 3 billion pounds ($4 billion) of costs by the end of the decade "did not reflect the full potential of AI".
"Depending on what we learn from AI . . . there may be an opportunity for BT to be even smaller by the end of the decade," the FT quoted her as saying.
Britain's biggest broadband and mobile provider had said in 2023 that it would cut as many as 55,000 jobs, including contractors, by 2030. Its CEO at the time, Philip Jansen, said the company would rely on a much smaller workforce and significantly reduced cost base by the end of the 2020s.
Kirkby, who took over from Jansen a year ago, has also opened the door to a possible future spin-off of Openreach, the company's network infrastructure business, the FT said.
She said she did not feel the value of Openreach was reflected in the company's share price and if that persisted, BT "would absolutely have to look at options".
In an emailed response to Reuters, BT said that Openreach is not something the company is actively looking at right now. It did not provide further comment on Kirkby's FT interview.
BT said last month that strong demand for fibre broadband and more than 900 million pounds of cost savings had helped to shore up its full-year earnings and boost cash flow.
Resilience at Openreach offset declines in revenue and profit at its business and consumer units, where legacy voice services continued to wane and handset sales fell.
($1 = 0.7372 pounds)
(Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal in BengaluruEditing by Raju Gopalakrishnan, William Mallard and David Goodman)
Allison Kirkby stated that advances in artificial intelligence could deepen the significant job cuts already underway at BT Group.
BT has plans to cull more than 40,000 jobs and aims to strip out 3 billion pounds in costs by the end of the decade.
Kirkby mentioned that the value of Openreach is not reflected in BT's share price, and if this persists, the company would have to consider options regarding a spin-off.
BT reported strong demand for fibre broadband and over 900 million pounds in cost savings, which helped shore up its full-year earnings and boost cash flow.
BT is experiencing declines in revenue and profit in its business and consumer units, primarily due to waning legacy voice services and falling handset sales.
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