The company will recruit talent into the company across areas as diverse as software engineering, customer service, applied research, data analytics and cyber-security to support the UK’s fast-growing digital sectors.

The new roles are spread across a number of state-of-the-art offices which form part of BT Group’s Better Workplace Programme - the largest workplace improvement programme and consolidation scheme of its type ever undertaken in the UK.  Locations include Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Darlington, Ipswich, Leeds, London, Manchester, Sheffield and Warrington^[2].

BT Group is one of the UK’s largest private sector apprenticeship employers and has recruited more than 3,000 apprentices and graduates over the past five years. The company offers apprenticeships ranging from level two, the equivalent to GCSE standard through to level seven, a master’s degree.

In 2023, BT Group was ranked second in the Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers in the UK and as part of its Manifesto for responsible, inclusive, and sustainable growth the company has pledged to build a more diverse talent pool.

Elaine Bergin, Director of Colleague Experience, BT Group said: “As one of the largest private sector employers of apprentices and graduates in the UK, we continue to recruit and attract brilliant people into our business and we offer unparalleled opportunities to those who join us.

“As we build a better BT Group, we’re developing a pipeline of future talent to help grow our business, deliver great outcomes for our customers and to help underpin economic growth in the UK.”

For more information on how to apply for an apprenticeship or graduate job at BT Group, please visit: https://www.bt.com/earlycareers

ENDS

Notes to Editors

• Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers: Top100AE23.pdf (topapprenticeshipemployers.co.uk)
• For more information about the BT Group Manifesto, visit:  BT Group Manifesto - Responsible business | BT Plc
• BT Group is a partner of the Fast Futures programme which helps provide equal opportunities to 18-22-year olds who are looking to shape their future career. Over the course of 12-weeks, participants learn business-focused skills that are most valued by the employers of today, such as marketing, data, finance, teamwork and problem solving.

^[1] 557 jobs: 111 graduate and 446 apprentice roles.

^[2] Field based roles are located in communities across the country.

The company will recruit talent into the company across areas as diverse as engineering, customer service, applied research, and cyber-security to support the UK’s fast-growing digital sectors. The new recruits will also support the company’s plans to build and extend its 5G network around the UK.

The new roles are spread across a number of locations including Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Dundee, Glasgow, Ipswich, London and Manchester^[2].

Many of these state-of-the-art offices form part of BT’s Better Workplace Programme - the largest workplace improvement programme and consolidation scheme of its type ever undertaken in the UK. The programme, which will complete in 2024, will establish an estate of future fit, high tech workspaces where colleagues can collaborate, innovate and deliver the best for BT’s customers and for the business.

BT Group is one of the UK’s largest private sector apprenticeship employers and has recruited more than 2,000^[3] apprentices and graduates over the past three years. The company has around 4,000 colleagues working towards their qualifications at any given time.

Debbie White, Chief Human Resources Officer, BT Group said: “BT is at the heart of the UK’s digital economy and as one of the largest employers of graduates and apprentices in the UK, we offer unparalleled development opportunities.

“Despite the uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, we’ve continued to recruit and attract brilliant people into our business. The combination of our hybrid working approach and our state-of-the-art offices makes BT a great place for new joiners to learn new skills and capabilities, collaborate with colleagues and bring innovative thinking to drive growth across our business and deliver for all of our customers. It’s a very exciting time to join BT.”

In 2020, BT was ranked fourth in the Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers in the UK and recently launched its Manifesto for responsible, inclusive, and sustainable growth. To build a bigger, more diverse talent pool, the company wants its workforce to have a 50% gender split, with 25% from an ethnic minority group, and 17% with a disability by 2030.

Alongside its apprenticeship and graduate scheme opportunities, BT is also investing in several initiatives to support young jobseekers. These include BT’s Work Ready training scheme and FastFutures which have already helped thousands of young people kickstart their careers, providing opportunities for young people who aren't in employment, education or training and preparing them for the world of work.

Work Ready and FastFutures form part of BT’s Skills for Tomorrow ambition which aims to help 25m people in the UK develop the skills they need to make the most of life in the digital world by 2026. 

For more information on how to apply for a BT apprenticeship or graduate placement, please visit: https://www.bt.com/careers/early-careers

ENDS

Notes to Editors

• BT offers graduates two routes to join the business:
  • Graduate Programmes: A two-year programme which provides professional training and personal growth. The scheme allows graduates to spend time in different parts of the business to get a feel for where they fit best. Ideal for graduates looking to kick-start their career by gaining a range of experiences.
  • Graduate Jobs: Aimed at those graduates who know exactly what they want to do in life. Graduates won’t rotate around the business and will instead learn how to be a specialist in one area. 
• For more information about the BT Group Manifesto, visit http://www.bt.com/btmanifesto
• BT Group is a partner of the FastFutures programme which helps provide equal opportunities to 18-22-year who are looking to shape their future career. Over the course of 12-weeks, participants learn business-focused skills that are most valued by the employers of today, such as: marketing, data, finance, teamwork and problem solving.
• For more information about our Work Ready programme and BT’s Skills for Tomorrow, with free courses to develop your digital skills, please visit: https://www.bt.com/skillsfortomorrow
• Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers: Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers announced - GOV.UK

For further information:

Adam Emberson         07740 008408

[1] 622 jobs: 286 graduate and 336 apprentice roles. Excluding Openreach.

[2] Field based roles are located in communities across the country.

[3] Excludes Openreach trainee engineer roles Openreach builds back better and greener with more than 5,000 new jobs and an all-Electric Vehicle fleet to upgrade the nation’s broadband.

London, 10 June 2021 – A new study from BT and creative business and youth specialists Livity, has found that despite listing climate change as a key societal problem, many people don’t know how to actively make a difference.

In a poll of over 2,000 adults, 20% admitted to not engaging with the climate change agenda, despite 32% stating that they worry more about the state of the environment than they do about violent crime.

Almost one-fifth of those surveyed stated that feeling ‘alone’ in making a difference was one of the main reasons they had not attempted to tackle the issue of climate change. Others noted the lack of a collective movement to help them drive the cause.

As a result, one in four adults want better support from existing authorities to help guide their engagement with the climate change movement. More than a third also want businesses and manufacturers to make their sustainable products more affordable to help encourage greater adoption.

Ways in which some individuals are already attempting to make a change, include reducing waste (54%), shopping more locally (33%), and raising awareness of the issues around climate change (14%).

Gabrielle Ginér, Head of Environmental Sustainability at BT said: “Climate change is an issue that we all face and at BT we want more people to feel united in action. Where we live, our ethnicity and our socio-economic status all play a key role in defining our connection with climate change. No one person or organisation can tackle climate change alone which is why we want people to feel inspired to make a contribution of their own, however large or small. It’s the combination of everybody pulling together that will make the difference.”

Alan Bryant, Strategy Partner at Livity said: “For those who feel they can have an impact, climate change is seen as something that everyone can play their part in. They believe in the cumulative impact of every individual’s actions.

“However, for those who don’t believe they can drive change, the opposite is true - they feel instead that the climate emergency is a bigger issue than the individual, a bigger issue than they can solve alone. Many believe it should be the responsibility of government and industry to enact change, but the truth lies, as ever, somewhere in the middle – with individuals and large groups both working together.”

With a customer base of 30 million households, BT is well placed to help households cut their carbon footprint, and has recently partnered with environmental charity Hubbub to carry out a three-month ‘Smarter Living Challenge’ looking at the ways technology can help cut household emissions.

The company believes that its technology and networks will underpin many of the innovative solutions needed to achieve a net zero carbon economy - supporting everything from home-working through to the development of smart cities and enabling the Internet of things.

As part of plans to become a net zero carbon emissions business by 2045, BT is using 100% renewable electricity worldwide. Consumers who buy mobile or broadband from EE, BT or Plusnet are already supplied by networks that are powered by 100% clean power. The company has also outlined plans to electrify up to 28,000 of its 33,000 vehicles by 2030.

In the run up to climate talks later this year, BT is calling on other companies to get involved by setting their own ambitious net zero targets and by engaging with their customers, colleagues and suppliers about climate change and the difference they can make.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

• We surveyed 2000 of the general population aged 18-70+ from across England, Scotland and Wales, ensuring we heard from those from a range of locations, genders, ethnicities and social groups. We then held a series of qualitative online workshops with 19 young men nationwide: whom 10 of the group ranked the interest in climate change as strong interest and 9 of the group ranked it as not very strong.
• You can view the Livity report in full here.
• Further information on how BT is supporting its customers to cut their carbon emissions is available here.
• For more information about BT's work Sustainability please visit: Digital impact & sustainability | BT Plc

These proposals were revised in July to encompass a complete removal of Huawei equipment from the UK’s 5G networks by 2027.

This proposed legislation clearly has an impact on all operators in the UK market. It would be easy to focus purely on the challenges presented by that decision.

But it’s also a powerful opportunity. A chance to reframe and reshape our networks for the future; to build the fast, flexible, stable and secure connectivity our customers want, and the country needs.

I’ve been hugely impressed by the positive, forward looking attitude of our network and procurement teams as they’ve stepped up to address that opportunity.

In the nine months since the initial decision, we’ve signed significant new deals with two of the world’s leading equipment vendors, Nokia and Ericsson, that will enable us not only to meet our commitments to the UK government, but to continue building out our award-winning 5G network across the UK and to consolidate our leading position in mobile.

Two deals may not sound like a lot, but the scale and complexities involved mean that getting these agreed in just nine months is a real testament to the hard work of hundreds of people across the business.

But it’s only the start.

Since March, with the advent and impact of Covid-19, BT’s networks have played a central, crucial role in the UK’s ability to function as a society. We’ve kept tens of millions connected to their loved ones, to emergency services and local community support, to their jobs and schools.

Our networks have never experienced greater demand. Daytime traffic on our core network more than doubled over the course of this year, with millions of people working from home, entertaining and educating their families, and relying on us to deliver the connectivity they need, day in, day out.

The performance of our networks in the face of these pressures has been incredible, but our ability to scale to meet the challenges of Covid-19 hasn’t been a fluke, or down to luck.

In the past five years, BT has invested, consistently, in building one of the world’s leading networks. Through the acquisition of EE, our investments in 5G and full fibre, our leading public Wifi coverage, and our cutting edge, highly scalable, software-defined core, we’ve been laying the foundations to deliver a truly 21^st century connectivity platform for our customers, from consumers to global multinationals. We’re already a leader in many of the things that matter most to our customers – speed, reliability and security. But we’re not resting on our laurels.

There’s still lots of work to do. We’re building like fury to extend full fibre broadband and mobile coverage as widely as possible, including the rapid early deployment of 5G across 112 towns and cities, but those are multi-year programmes, as is our commitment to closing down our legacy network infrastructure, and moving to IP voice and data networks.

We have already laid the groundwork for one of the most modern, secure and capable communications infrastructures, not only in the UK, but globally. A benchmark against which other networks will be measured, a powerful differentiator for us as a business, and a powerful force for the UK’s post-Brexit economy and recovery from Covid-19. I'm looking forward to the next chapter.

- Howard Watson, Chief Technology and Information Officer

For more information about what we’re doing in response to Coronavirus, please visit:

BT Group: www.btplc.com/coronavirus

BT: www.bt.com/coronavirus

EE: www.ee.co.uk/coronavirus

Plusnet: www.plusnet.co.uk/coronavirus

London, UK – 1^st June 2020 – BT Group has today launched two new initiatives, the Green Tech Innovation Platform and the UK Electric Fleets Coalition, which will drive the UK’s transition to Net Zero carbon emissions and contribute to a green post-Covid19 recovery for the UK.

Green Tech Innovation Platform

The Company is today launching the Green Tech Innovation Platform. Working with Plug and Play, the world’s leading innovation platform headquartered in Silicon Valley, BT aims to uncover the latest technologies from UK-based tech scale-ups that could support BT and its public sector customers transition to Net Zero.

The partnership marks Plug and Play’s entry to the UK market and will explore three areas:

• Smart Streets: Insights from environmental monitoring and traffic optimisation sensors which can be easily integrated into ‘street furniture’ like the next generation of BT Street Hub units.

• Smart Buildings: IOT capable solutions supporting energy and water management in social housing and other public sector buildings.

• Remote Working: Uncover ways 5G can be used to support innovative products and solutions that will reduce travel, e.g. using video, augmented reality or virtual reality to carry out remote repair and diagnostics by health and other public sector workers.

BT plans to announce scale-ups chosen through the platform in the Autumn and they will have the opportunity to partner and work collaboratively with BT and their customers. Partnerships will range from BT using its expertise to find a cheaper, faster initial route to market through to new revenue share models or even taking a stake in the business.

UK Electric Fleets Coalition 

BT Group has the second largest commercial fleet in the UK with almost 34,000 vehicles, including more than 28,000 used by Openreach engineers.

BT has joined forces with The Climate Group to launch a new partnership - The UK Electric Fleets Coalition https://www.theclimategroup.org/uk-electric-fleets-coalition. The Coalition will undertake a vital leadership role in the run up to the COP26 climate summit in 2021, highlighting the need to progress towards fleet de-carbonisation and helping to develop policy measures that support corporate Electric Vehicle (EV) uptake, such as stimulating EV supply and investing in EV charging infrastructure.

Reducing Carbon Emissions

BT is the joint-largest private purchaser of electricity in the UK and 100% of the electricity that it purchases directly from UK energy suppliers comes from renewable sources. Globally, 92% of the electricity BT uses comes from renewable sources and, where markets allow, the Company plans to hit 100% by December 2020.

Since 2016/17, BT has reduced the carbon emissions intensity of its operations by 42% and by 8% from its supply chain.

Last year, BT helped its customers save 13m tonnes of carbon – three times as much carbon as its own end-to-end carbon emissions – achieving its 3:1 carbon abatement target one year early. For every tonne of CO2 emitted by BT – three tonnes of customer emissions were saved.

For the first time ever, BT has included progress on carbon reduction and on digital skills training in the calculation of bonuses for eligible employees. As part of the Company’s new remuneration policy set to be introduced this year, these two components will make up 10% of the Group’s bonus calculation, incentivising employees to contribute towards the targets*.

Philip Jansen, BT Group Chief Executive, said: “The economic set back and immense hardship caused by the Covid-19 pandemic are severe and could be long lasting. However, despite the temporary reprieve on carbon emissions and air quality in towns and cities during the lockdown, the global climate emergency hasn’t gone away.

“As we emerge from the crisis, the recovery presents a huge opportunity for Governments, businesses and individuals to put action on climate at the heart of their efforts. We will be playing our part with a once-in-a-generation investment in the UK’s digital infrastructure: full fibre broadband to 20 million premises, as well as our continued investment in 5G mobile. We will also be backing new green technologies through our Green Tech Innovation Platform. BT is stepping up on climate action and we want to encourage and help others to do the same.”

Commitment to climate action

BT has led on climate action for over 25 years and was one of the first companies in the world to adopt science-based targets, directly linking its own goals to the overall level of reductions in emissions needed to limit the most harmful impacts of the climate crisis.

As part of the transition to a low carbon business model, BT has pledged to become a net zero carbon emissions business by 2045 and has set targets in line with the most ambitious aim of the COP21 Paris Agreement - linking its targets to limit global warming to 1.5°C.

BT’s commitment to reducing its carbon intensity will help the UK Government meet its target of net zero emissions by 2050 and is calling on other companies to take similar measures and make similar commitments.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

• For more information about BT's work on Digital Impact and Sustainability please visit: https://btplc.com/Digitalimpactandsustainability/

• Our Digital Impact and Sustainability report for 2019/20 can be found here: http://www.bt.com/annualreview

• *Digital impact and sustainability targets: Reduce CO2 emissions intensity by 87% by 2030 and help reach 10m people in the UK to improve their digital skills by 2025.

• Plug and Play are calling for scale-ups working in the areas of smart streets, smart buildings and remote working to get in touch at: PnPUK@pnptc.com

For further information:

Adam Emberson 07740 008408

Richard Farnsworth 07734 776317

Over the last few days, I’ve seen a flurry of media stories reflecting an understandable concern that our networks will be unable to cope with the additional traffic of millions of home-workers.

I’d like to share a few facts that might help to address some of these concerns:

• The UK is one of the world’s most advanced digital economies, so we overbuild our networks to compensate for our love of high-definition streaming content, video gaming and other bandwidth-hungry applications. In contrast, online conferencing services, even video-calls, consume far less bandwidth.

• The UK’s fixed broadband network core is built (with a lot of ‘headroom’) to support the ‘evening peak’ of network traffic, driven by these high-bandwidth applications. The highest peak we’ve seen in evening traffic was 17.5Tb/s, driven by videogame updates and streaming football.

• In contrast, daytime usage, during working hours, generally runs at about 5 Tb/s.

• Since Tuesday this week, as people started to work from home more extensively, we’ve seen weekday daytime traffic increase 35-60% compared with similar days on the fixed network, peaking at 7.5Tb/s.

• This is still only around half the average evening peak, and nowhere near the 17.5 Tb/s we have proved the network can handle.

These facts give us confidence that the additional load on the broadband network is well within manageable limits and we have plenty of headroom for it to grow still further.

But we’re not complacent. We’re monitoring the network closely, and collaborating with the other UK networks and content companies. Our Network Operations Centre teams are operating around the clock to identify any issues and resolve them as rapidly as possible. And if more capacity is needed, our engineers are on standby 24/7 to make that happen.

Because we’re monitoring the network so closely, we’re noticing a few changes to usage patterns as a result of COVID-19 that I’d like to share:

• We’re actually seeing a 5% decrease in mobile data traffic, as a lot of people are connecting their mobiles to their home WiFi, rather than using the cellular network.

• Data usage is peaking at around 5PM, the time of the Prime Minister’s daily briefing.

• Mobile traffic is becoming more evenly distributed across the country, as people travel into urban hubs less frequently.

• Roaming traffic is falling by about 10% per day, with a 55% drop over the last 5 days.

• We are seeing an increase in mobile voice call volumes, which is to be expected. This is well within the levels the network is built to handle, but we would encourage customers to use the landline or IP voice services like Skype as well, especially for long conference calls.

• Organisations are also seeing increased numbers of connections into their corporate Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and conferencing services. This may mean that companies need to think about how they optimise use of these private networks, or increase their provision of such services.

In conclusion, the COVID-19 outbreak is causing changes to the way our networks are being used. At BT, we’re monitoring those changes carefully to make sure we can respond rapidly if needed. However the UK’s communications infrastructure is well within its capacity limits, and has significant headroom for growth in demand. Our networks have never played a more critical role, and I couldn’t be more proud of the hard work my teams are putting in to keep the country online during this difficult time.

- Howard Watson, Chief Technology and Information Officer

For more information about what we’re doing in response to Coronavirus, please visit:

BT Group: www.btplc.com/coronavirus

BT: www.bt.com/coronavirus

EE: www.ee.co.uk/coronavirus

Plusnet: www.plusnet.co.uk/coronavirus

BT today announced that it has reached an agreement for the sale of selected domestic operations and infrastructure in 16 countries in Latin America to CIH Telecommunications Americas LLC (‘CIH’), an affiliate of CIH Technology Holdings. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to complete during this calendar year.

BT will retain a strong presence in the region after the sale, delivering next-generation networking, cloud and security services to multinational customers across 21 countries.

The transaction is part of BT’s ongoing transformation of its Global unit and will deliver continuity and growth opportunities for customers and employees in the region. BT and CIH have also entered into wholesale and reseller agreements, under which CIH will act as a regional channel for BT’s products and services and continue to supply domestic connectivity services to BT.

Assets and operations in the scope of the transaction delivered revenue of £110m to BT in fiscal year 2018/19. They include two owned fibre networks with total length of 650km, 2000km of leased fibre lines, four data centres and five teleports. The divested business is headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil.

“Today’s announcement is a key milestone in the execution of our strategy to become a more agile and focused business. It comes at a particularly challenging time for the global economy. As such, it is a sign of our determination to keep the business moving forward and continue connecting communities, businesses and governments. I am pleased to begin a new chapter in the region with CIH, providing continuity for our people and our customers,” said Bas Burger, CEO of Global, BT.

“We are very excited to be re-entering global telecommunications after having successfully focused on the technology sector over a number of years. We have considerable experience in the region and the sector, and greatly look forward to growing the business and providing the highest level of service to all customers in the region, including BT. The acquired business fits very well with our strategy and existing global portfolio,” said George Kappaz, CIH’s Chairman.

BT and CIH have agreed not to disclose the terms of the purchase, which were agreed to in March 2020.

‘The Economic Impact of BT Group plc in the UK’ report, by Hatch Regeneris, shows that the communications company generated a £22.8 billion contribution to the UK’s economy expressed as “Gross Value Added” (GVA)*, including a combined aggregate spend of £9.2 billion with UK suppliers during the 2017/18 financial year.

The report estimates that the equivalent of 290,000 full-time UK jobs are supported through BT’s direct employment, its spending with contractors and suppliers and the discretionary spending of its employees. BT supported the direct employment of 82,500 people and a further 12,300 contractors, reinforcing its position as one of the UK’s leading employers.

The impact across the nations and English regions is also detailed in the report. For example, in East England, BT’s research and development campus Adastral Park accounts for a large part of the 12,400 BT people working in the region. In Scotland, software developers, engineers and customer service centres contribute to the 7,700 people working in the country.

Tim Fanning, Director at Hatch Regeneris, said: “Our analysis underlines how vast BT Group’s contribution is to the UK economy, particularly across the nations and regions.

“BT Group is almost unique in contributing to the economies of virtually every community across the UK, supporting significant levels of GVA spend and employment opportunities per region.”

The report from Hatch Regeneris comes in addition to a recent report by PWC¹ which highlighted that BT Group is the 5^th highest tax contributor in the UK among FTSE 100 companies, and the highest contributor among non-financial companies. The PWC report also identified BT as the largest capex investor in the UK.

Jane Wood, BT Group UK nations and regions director, said: “Few companies play as important a role in national, regional and local communities as BT Group. Not only does BT connect friends, families and businesses across the UK, but we also put premium fuel in the tank of the nation’s economy. The report shows that BT generates £1 in every £75 of wealth in the UK.

“We’re proud to be one of the UK’s largest private sector employers and investors. Our investments, including the latest 5G mobile technology through our mobile network EE, will ensure the UK continues to be one of the world’s best-connected economies.

“With more than 82,500 directly employed people spending their salaries in local businesses, from Shetland to the Scilly Isles, as well as regularly volunteering on activities such as our Barefoot tech literacy programme in schools, our people are at the heart of nearly every community.”

The report includes the contribution of all parts of BT Group, including Openreach, mobile network provider EE and BT’s Consumer and Enterprise divisions.

The economic impact report also highlights the positive contributions made by BT Group through the salaries and wages of employees and contractors, and the beneficial impact of its procurement and overall expenditure around the UK.

The report highlights that BT Group:

• Generated £3.4 billion of employment income for its 82,500 employees and 12,300 contractors in the UK;
• Provided work for a further 195,000 people through its total UK supplier spend, as well as the discretionary spending of its employees;
• Employees committed more than 37,000 volunteering days in aggregate to worthy causes during 2017/18;
• Is consistently one of the country’s leading investors in innovation with spending on research and development in the 2017/18 financial year reaching £510 million.

The full report is available at: www.bt.com/reports

ENDS

Notes to Editors

*Gross Value Added (GVA) measures the value of all goods and services produced in an economy. GVA combines wages and operating profits from companies and other organisations. Growing GVA can reflect improvements in workforce skills, productivity, R&D and innovation. The figures for BT show the value added directly through BT's services and additional value generated through BT's suppliers across the nations and regions.

¹ PWC Total Tax Contribution of UK FTSE100 companies 2018. BT is:

• 5th highest contributor (amongst FTSE100 respondents) of UK taxes (borne and collected) – with the 4 slots above BT occupied by banks (HSBC, Lloyds, Barclays, RBS);
• 4th highest payer of UK wages and salaries;
• 2nd highest overall distributor of “value” into the UK, where value is the sum of taxes borne, taxes collected, wages and salaries paid, interest paid, and equity returns (which are available for reinvestment, dividends and pension deficit payments) ;
• Highest capex investor.

The two ‘value added licences’, China nationwide Domestic IP-VPN licence and China nationwide Internet Service Provider (ISP) licence, enable BT China Communications Limited to contract directly with its customers in the country and bill them in local currency.

The value added licences represent a major step for BT in China where many of its multinational customers require secure and reliable connectivity to expand within the country.

Bas Burger, CEO of Global Services, BT, said: “We are delighted with this major benefit for our customers. Thanks to cooperation between the governments of the PRC and the UK, we are now able to offer a nationwide service in China that can be scaled up to match the ambitions and needs of our customers. Being able to service and bill locally significantly simplifies the process of delivering connectivity and other communication services. It is what our customers expect from us and we are very grateful for the opportunity to do this as of today.”

International Trade Secretary, Dr Liam Fox MP said: “I am very pleased that close cooperation between the UK and Chinese governments has resulted in BT securing these licences which will enable it to operate across the country. This major milestone exemplifies the vital work of my international economic department to open up markets and ensure that UK firms are represented on the global stage.”