BT will change 'from Sumo wrestler to Samurai swordsman'

Bosses at BT say it's changing from a Sumo wrestler to a Samurai swordsman.

BT says it has cut staff numbers in its retail division by 9,000 over the last two years, while another 4,000 are to go by 2003.

The total 13,000 staff cuts are part of the group's effort to cut costs by £850m in the division over the next three years. A spokesman say there have been no compulsory redundancies, and a large part of the cuts were agency staff.

Pierre Danon, BT Retail chief executive, says it "really is a case of if you think you know BT, think again".

He adds: "We are building on the solid foundations established over the past year, and the past five months in particular. With innovative and aggressive defence of our core business and a whole raft of exciting new initiatives, we will not only halt declining revenue, but increase it by 3% in compound annual growth.

"At the same time, we will keep up the momentum to become the industry's customer satisfaction champion and drive down costs."

Mr Danon adds: "I feel our transformation can be illustrated best by the analogy of BT changing from a ponderous Sumo wrestler into a lean and agile Samurai swordsman. By making this change, BT will finally break its losing streak."

Commenting on the job cuts, a BT spokesman says: "This is the one of the first major updates from BT Retail. We have got an ongoing policy of reducing headcount, and this is part of that.

"At the time of our results in November, we confirmed that, this year, staff would be reduced by between 5,000 and 6,000 as part of an ongoing programme, and this is a large part of that. But this is the first time we have confirmed the numbers from BT Retail.

"We are half way through this (three-year) programme already - meaning a substantial number of those jobs have already gone," the spokesman adds.