More than 250 new trainee engineers for Wales in Openreach’s biggest ever recruitment drive
More than 250 trainee engineers will be hired across Wales as part of the largest recruitment drive ever undertaken by Openreach.
More than 250 trainee engineers will be hired across Wales as part of the largest recruitment drive ever undertaken by Openreach.
The announcement follows news that Openreach, Britain’s leading digital network business, will accelerate plans to build more ultrafast Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) broadband across the country.
The 258 new roles in Wales, part of 3,500 available across the UK during the next 12 months, will be located across Wales including Cardiff, Carmarthen, Monmouth, Ynys Mon and Wrexham.
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.
Openreach’s ‘Fibre First’ programme will deliver expanded ‘full fibre’ FTTP networks in up to 40 towns, cities and boroughs, setting it on a trajectory to reach ten million British premises by the mid-2020s. It has committed to making FTTP available in three million British homes and business by the end of 2020 and, if the conditions are right, intends to go significantly further, bringing the benefits of FTTP technology to the majority of homes and businesses in the UK. Cardiff is one of the first eight cities in the UK where the roll-out will commence, and around 30 of the new recruits in Cardiff will work on the Fibre First programme.
Welsh Government Cabinet Secretary for the Economy, Ken Skates, said: “It’s good news to see Openreach recruiting their largest number of trainee engineers in Wales, and that these will also be located across the country. This announcement will not only provide high-quality and highly-skilled training opportunities but will also play an important part in further increasing access to faster broadband.”
Speaking ahead of the official opening today of Openreach’s new fibre engineering training centre in Bradford, one of 12 new regional centres built to support the fibre roll-out, Clive Selley, chief executive of Openreach, said:“These trainee engineers will be playing a vital role in the future success and prosperity of Wales. Over the last year our 1,600 Welsh engineers have been the driving force behind making 'superfast’ broadband available to more than 93% of the country, whilst also improving our customer service performance - but we want to do more”.
“Every day, Openreach engineers are working in all weathers across the length and breadth of Britain, connecting homes and businesses and making sure people can access the high quality broadband services they need. We are already investing in upskilling our engineering team and today’s announcement of new jobs, including 258 in Wales, underlines our commitment to make our ‘Fibre First’ programme a reality - future-proofing Britain’s broadband network and supporting emerging mobile technologies like 5G.”
Ynyr Roberts, infrastructure delivery director for Openreach in Wales, said: “This latest recruitment represents a further major investment in Wales. It’s very exciting news for our country. We’re looking forward to men and women from all walks of life applying for these roles at Openreach as we’re keen to engage with the aspiring engineers of tomorrow and to build a diverse workforce that reflects the hugely diverse communities we serve.
“Becoming an engineer can be an incredibly rewarding career, and we’re constantly improving our training and recruitment programmes to make sure we attract and keep the best engineers in the business. This year we’ve invested heavily in upskilling our people, so they can now do more for customers in a single visit and we recently launched new career pathways to give our engineers a clear sense of the skills, accountabilities and experience they need to get where they want to be.
“We’re committed to helping people realise their potential so we’re also delighted to be offering work experience placements, under the Movement to Work programme, to 18-24 year olds who are currently not in education, employment or training. Courses are often held in Cardiff and Merthyr Tydfil. Further details are available at www.movementtowork.com”
