BT has announced plans to reduce its headcount by between 40,000 and 55,000 jobs, starting in 2028 and due to complete in 2030. Much of these are linked to the scheduled end of its fiber network deployment, but the mention of AI in the announcement has captured the limelight, leading to a bit of an overreaction in the press. To be clear, this is a very significant slimming down. BT currently has some 130,000 staff, so the maximum reduction would be 42.3% of total roles. BT clarified that this includes some 15,000 engineers building the fiber network, which is due for completion by the end of 2024, and some 10,000 engineers that maintain both copper and fiber infrastructure. “When we…