BT has announced a further expansion of its engineering workforce in the East of England, taking the number of new jobs created by the telecoms giant in the region since the spring to more than 180.

A total of 36 additional engineers have been recruited by BT’s local network business, Openreach, in towns and cities around the region, including Bury St Edmunds, Haverhill, Cambridge, Wisbech, King’s Lynn, Peterborough and Luton.

This builds on the total of 150 engineers recruited by BT in the eastern region earlier this year, as part of a drive by Openreach to hire an additional 1,600 engineers across the country.

Many of latest recruits, part of an intake of 500 UK-wide, will be specifically focused on Openreach’s commitment to continue to deliver improved levels of customer service – building on improved performance data for the second quarter of the year which was also announced yesterday.

The remainder will also focus on the needs of households and businesses by connecting new housing developments and installing ethernet across the country, which offers a dedicated ultra-fast broadband service for medium to large businesses.

Dave Hughes, BT East of England regional director, said: “For the second time in less than six months we are able to announce a boost to our engineering workforce in the East of England.

“This latest recruitment provides further evidence of our commitment to the region and to our customers. We are one of the largest investors in the East of England, both as a major employer and a provider of essential communications. “The economic prospects for the East of England are continuing to improve and superfast fibre broadband, which we are rolling our across the region, will play a vital role in its future success. Many thousands of East of England households and businesses are already benefiting from the great opportunities offered by high-speed communications and this exciting technology will have an ever more important role in the years ahead as we continue to make a major investment in our network and the people who maintain and build it.”

Most of the new roles are permanent jobs for direct Openreach employees while a proportion are fixed term contracts of 18 months.

Of those hired so far across the UK, more than 200 roles have been filled by ex-armed forces personnel. The campaign has also boosted the number of female engineers at Openreach following an increase in applications from women.

Joe Garner, chief executive of Openreach, added: “Our fibre broadband rollout is making a really positive contribution to the lives and business of people right across Britain. We are seeing strong demand for our superfast fibre service, as well as our ultra high-speed business services like ethernet.

“We are recruiting more people so that we can continue to build our network rapidly, and serve our customers better. Broadband growth is great for our customers and for Britain. These new engineers will help ensure that Openreach continues to meet and exceed the rising demands of our customers in an internet age.”