BT announces 15,000 job cuts

BT has announced that it is cutting around 15,000 jobs, with most redundancies being made in the UK.

The telecoms firm reported an annual loss of £134 million and has already shed 15,000 members of its workforce over the past year.

Company bosses have promised to avoid compulsory lay-offs by removing positions through natural wastage and voluntary redundancies.

"Our aim is to work closely with the unions to reduce BT's total labour cost, of both direct and indirect staff, as this is critical to the success of the company going forward," a BT spokesman told the BBC.

According to chief executive Ian Livingstone, BT has struggled to maintain its global services amid continuing economic problems worldwide.

"Three out of four of BT's lines of business have performed well in spite of fierce competition and the global economic downturn," he said.

"However this achievement has been overshadowed by the unacceptable performance of BT Global Services and the resulting charges we have taken."

The latest 15,000 job cuts amount to 10% of the firm's current workforce.