BT to lower costs but job cuts will not affect Irish operations

BT IRELAND says planned job cuts will not directly affect operations here and that any cuts in Ireland will be solely down to natural attrition. BT Group said yesterday that it will continue to look at lowering costs, with 15,000 job cuts expected to be implemented this year.

Management at the Irish division of the international telecommunications group said yesterday: “We’ve been increasing employee numbers to deliver new contracts while reducing numbers in areas of our business where we are experiencing a decline in demand. These reductions have come predominantly through natural attrition. We have no plans to accelerate what has been business as usual for us.”

That line came on the back of the group’s full-year results announcement for 2008, which included an 18% rise in profit and a 4% revenue rise to £800.8m (€893.4m) in Irish operations.