BT

BT's workforce fell by 7,731 to about 90,000 (excluding its international JV) as part of sweeping cost cuts, with most reductions at Openreach amid a slowdown in fibre build. The job cuts contributed to a 12% rise in pre-tax profit to £1.1bn for the six months to end-September, and BT reports record demand for Openreach's full-fibre network (24.1m homes reached). CEO Allison Kirkby has raised the savings target to £3.7bn by 2030 and expects headcount to fall to 75,000–80,000; the £400m takeover of TalkTalk remains under regulatory review. » More on theguardian.com

A BT customer in York was billed £32.99 monthly for more than a year after their landline stopped working when it was switched to Digital Voice. Engineers discovered a severed wire during an aborted December visit but did not return to complete the repair, and BT closed multiple cases while the customer continued to be charged. Ofcom rules could have entitled the customer to over £4,600 in delay compensation, but BT disputed the timeline; the customer accepted £689 covering 60 days of outage and complaint mishandling. The case highlights the need to keep detailed records and follow up complaints in writing. » More on theguardian.com

BT has acquired TalkTalk’s retail arm and the wholesale division Platform X Communications in an emergency takeover for about £400 million and is taking over the business without its debts. The acquisition was enabled with support from the Digital Ministry as an intervention in the public interest; the Competition and Markets Authority is reviewing competition concerns. TalkTalk currently has around 1.5 million customers and has been in difficulty since 2021 following earlier cyberattacks, high debt and failed sale attempts. » More on golem.de

BT temporarily paused broadband for a small number of customers who had not engaged with repeated requests to switch from copper to VoIP, aiming to prompt action before the public switched telephone network is retired. Around 16–17m lines have migrated so far, but about 1.3m copper landlines remain to be moved by the end-of-January deadline. Campaigners say the tactic amounts to bullying and risks leaving vulnerable people without reliable access, while BT says the measure is intended to avoid complete service loss and most affected customers have since acted. » More on theguardian.com

BT's Openreach has recovered a record nearly 10,000 tonnes of copper in the year to March and has received upfront payments from forward sale agreements with EMR as it dismantles legacy cabling during the full-fibre rollout. Soaring copper prices — up from about $8,500 to a recent close near $14,294 per tonne — mean the total extractable copper could be worth £2bn-plus, versus earlier estimates of about £1.5bn. Openreach expects to recover up to 200,000 tonnes through the 2030s and is deploying anti-theft measures as recycled-copper values and theft risk rise. » More on theguardian.com