Ringing endorsement for BT

BT has provided a £108 million boost to the Shropshire economy in the past year, according to an independent study.

Furthermore, the telecoms company has pledged to boost fibre broadband access across the county, the report by Regeneris Consulting claims.

The study highlights the local impact of BT’s activities, including its takeover of EE, which has reinforced the its position as one of the region’s leading employers.

It reveals BT supported nearly 1,200 jobs in Shropshire - through direct employment, spending with contractors and suppliers and the spending of employees.

In addition, one in every seven employees working in the IT and communications sector in the Marches Local Enterprise Area was directly employed by BT and EE.

The report has been welcomed by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).

Richard Butler, CBI’s West Midlands director, said: “This latest research demonstrates the extent to which BT plays a key role in our local communities.

“There is not a businessperson or family in this region who – directly or indirectly – is not affected by BT’s activities as a supplier of essential services, such as superfast broadband, major employer, investor or purchaser.

“In a competitive world, in which trade and relationships increasingly transcend regional and national boundaries, rapid and effective communications are ever more vital.”

Nearly 6,290 people are directly employed by BT and its EE business in the West Midlands – equivalent to one in 10 employees working in the region’s IT and communications sector. In employment terms, BT and EE’s impact in the 2015-16 financial year was larger than the region’s civil engineering sector.

Around £530 million was spent with West Midlands suppliers – including £5 million in Shropshire.

The overall economic impact of BT and EE activities is expressed as a Gross Value Added contribution. For the West Midlands this combined GVA totalled £1.28 billion – equivalent to £1 in every £95 of the region’s total GVA – of which £108 million was in Shropshire.

‘The Economic Impact of BT and EE in the UK’ outlines the combined economic contribution of the two companies across the English regions, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in the financial year 2015-16.

Tim Fanning, associate director of Regeneris Consulting, said: “Our latest analysis has shown that, together, BT and EE contributed around £1 in every £70 of economic output in the UK in 2015/16.

“This is clearly a very substantial combined economic footprint. Moreover, this contribution is spread throughout communities up and down the country.”

Colin Bannon, BT’s regional director for the West Midlands, said: “Few organisations have a more positive and direct impact on the local economy and the region’s communities than BT.

“The acquisition of EE means we can invest even further, enabling people living and working in the West Midlands to get access to the best communications - fixed line, mobile and broadband services - now and in the future.

“As well as providing the means for families, homeworkers, companies and other organisations to communicate and do business in new and exciting ways, BT is helping to support other firms and suppliers in the region with the company’s procurement and overall expenditure and the spending of its employees.”

The report highlights that BT, including EE, in the West Midlands was responsible for the employment of around 6,300 people and contractors in 2015-16 - with a total income of around £211 million, and provides work for a further 9,500 people through spending with businesses that supply equipment and services, as well as through the spending of its staff.

The company employs staff in every part of the county, more than 900 in total. Key local centres include Oswestry and Shrewsbury.

Openreach – BT’s local network business – which provides services for hundreds of communications companies and their customers, recently announced it had completed the recruitment of around 100 extra engineers in the West Midlands to help install new lines and clear faults more quickly.

The new recruits are also working on rolling out fibre broadband to more households and businesses beyond the more than two million premises in the region, which already have access to the high-speed technology. This includes around 181,000 across Shropshire, and Telford and Wrekin.