Sectors: Telecoms

Telecommunications sector heavyweight BT has announced that it is to double its intake of apprentices this year, following a large increase in applicant numbers.

BT is looking to recruit more than 200 extra people by Christmas, to add to the 221 positions it has already filled, with the telecoms giant saying that around 24,000 candidates have already registered an interest in the first set of vacancies, a dramatic rise from the 9,000 figure from last year.

Typically, BT apprentices start on salaries of between £12,000 and £15,000, and the extra staff will help BT roll out its new high-speed fibre-optic broadband network, with roles in IT, telecoms, electrical systems and customer service all up for grabs.

At the small-cap end of the sector, Telecom plus, the cash rich, dividend-paying supplier of fixed-line and mobile telephony, as well as broadband, to residential and business customers issued an upbeat trading statement.

Guided by CEO Andrew Lindsay, fully listed Telecom plus – valued at £265 million at 384.5p – says it expects results for the half to September to ‘show earnings and pre-tax profits significantly ahead’ of last year, following a period in which customer numbers increased at an annualised rate of around 6 per cent to over 356,000.

On AIM, telecoms services play Maintel announced that it had agreed to acquire the legacy telecoms assets of bombed-out Redstone for £1.75 million in cash.

CEO Eddie Buxton believes that the earnings-enhancing transaction will help Maintel, currently with an £18.35 million AIM tag, to swell its recurring maintenance revenue base.