Broadband rollout needs trainees

Around 400 trainee engineers will be hired across Scotland – including 14 in the Stirling area – as part of the largest recruitment drive ever undertaken by Openreach.

The local posts will be based in locations such as Strathblane and Callander.

Trainees will join the UK’s largest team of telecoms engineers working to expand, upgrade, maintain and install new services over Openreach’s national broadband network.

Clive Selley, chief executive of Openreach, said:“These trainee engineers will be playing a vital role in the future success and prosperity of Scotland.

“Over the last year our 3,000 Scottish engineers have been the driving force behind making ‘superfast’broadband available to more than 93 oer cent of the country, whilst also improving our customer service performance but we want to do more.

“We are already investing in upskilling our engineering team and this announcement of new jobs underlines our commitment to make our‘Fibre First’ programme a reality – futureproofing Britain’s broadband network and supporting emerging mobile technologies like 5G.”

The Scottish Government’s Connectivity Secretary Fergus Ewing said:“It’s particularly encouraging to see that these engineers will be based across the country, with that influx of new jobs and skilled employees set to benefit some of Scotland’s more rural areas.”

Find out more at www.btplc. com/Careercentre/careersatbt/ openreach/Engineers/index.htm.