BT planning to cut as many as 6,500 jobs

CWU, which mostly represents workers in non-managerial roles, claimed that any potential job losses would have little impact on its members, suggesting that it was BT managers that were in the firing line.

Elsewhere, Prospect, the union that represents BT's managers, confirmed that it had been made aware that BT could be looking to cut jobs, but noted that it was aiming to minimise impact.

Prospect national secretary, Philippa Childs said, "Our priorities are to ensure that our members' jobs and livelihoods are protected and with that in mind Prospect's Industrial Relations Committees will expect to be consulted and heavily involved in any staff changes that are being proposed."

"Prospect will be waiting to hear further details from BT next week," Childs added.

CWU welcomed the telecommunication giant's plans to invest and grow in frontline areas, where its members are predominately employed.

CWU's deputy general secretary of telecoms and financial services, Andy Kerr said, "BT has made it clear to us that they plan major investment in both these areas and have already committed to recruit over 3,000 field engineers in the coming year."

BT, which is scheduled to report its full-year results next week, did not immediately respond to requests for comments.

At its most recent update the company reported a slowdown in its global services arm, though the EE mobile division did show an increase in performance, while full year guidance was left unchanged.

Market analyst Michael Hewson at CMC Markets noted that over the last month the share price has pulled away from five-year lows in anticipation that the recent content deal with Sky has helped to retain clients for its TV services, and that the underperformance that has seen the share price more than halve since the 2016 peaks could be on the cusp of coming to an end.