Openreach providing over 20 new jobs in Wiltshire
It's part of a wider national initiative, that will see thousands of new roles created
Last updated 23rd Dec 2020
Broadband provider Openreach clams it's "bucking the current economic trend" by creating 21 jobs in Wiltshire.
The firm is providing engineering opportunities, expanding its full fibre roll-out.
Seven of the roles are in Devizes, with four in North Wiltshire, two in South Swindon and one in Chippenham.
In June, Salisbury became the first fully-fibred city in the country.
These jobs have been created as part of a wider national scheme, that sees more than 5,000 additional roles becoming available. Over 2,500 are directly with the company and the rest are with its partners.
This includes 200 new employees across the South West.
Openreach wants to see its broadband rolled-out to 20 million homes and businesses by the late 2020s.
'Helping the UK build back better and greener'
Connie Dixon is Regional Partnership Director for the West at Openreach:
"While many businesses across the country are cutting back, Openreach are hiring and we're looking to the future.
"We're continuing to invest heavily in both our network and people and that's about driving the digital revolution that will help us to bounce back from the pandemic.
"As a major employer and infrastructure builder, we believe Openreach can play a leading role in helping the UK to build back better and greener.
"We're also investing in our supply chain, which will support the creation of thousands of jobs based all over the UK.
"We know the network we're building can deliver a host of green benefits - from consuming less power to enabling more home working and fewer commuting trips.
"We're going to take that a step further, by committing to build and maintain that network using state of the art electric vehicles across our 27,000-strong fleet".
Openreach says people will not need engineering skills to apply - among its recent recruits have been shop workers, ex-military personnell and a trainee vet.
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, said:
"Throughout this crisis I've been clear that our number one economic priority is to protect jobs, so I'm delighted to welcome this announcement of 5,000 new skilled roles.
"We're investing billions of pounds across the UK as part of our Plan for Jobs, to ensure nobody is left without hope or opportunity".