Broadband ISP Plusnet Reportedly Cuts Over 100 More UK Jobs
The latest company accounts for broadband ISP Plusnet, which is part of wider BT Group, has revealed that the company’s turnover fell by -15% to £343m in the year to 31st March 2025 (down from £402m last year) and their employee headcount declined by 133 to total 944.
According to the same accounts, the provider’s customer base also fell by 9% following the closure of their mobile service (all mobile operations ended in September 2024). By comparison, the broadband base only declined by a more moderate 3%, which was largely due to Plusnet’s “strategic decision” not to offer its own VoIP style Digital Voice service alongside FTTP broadband.
We always felt as if it was an odd move for Plusnet not to offer an IP based phone service, particularly given how parent BT were a pioneer for this product and they also had a fair few customers on bundles (inc. some vulnerable users). But the results indicate that it was all about “minimising the costs of implementation“.
Advertisement
The 12% fall in the number of employees was also said to have been “driven by the strategic refocus and the necessity to streamline operations“. The BT Group are of course planning to cut many more jobs by 2030.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
« Emtelle UK to Support GoFibre’s £105m FTTP Broadband Build in Scotland
Advertisement
Leave a Reply
Privacy Notice: Please note that news comments are anonymous, which means that we do NOT require you to enter any real personal details to post a message and display names can be almost anything you like (provided they do not contain offensive language or impersonate a real person’s legal name). By clicking to submit a post you agree to storing your entries for comment content, display name, IP and email in our database, for as long as the post remains live.
Only the submitted name and comment will be displayed in public, while the rest will be kept private (we will never share this outside of ISPreview, regardless of whether the data is real or fake). This comment system uses submitted IP, email and website address data to spot abuse and spammers. All data is transferred via an encrypted (https secure) session.
DV was never offered on PlusNet (or Legacy EE) due to their parent’s desire to funnel customers directly into BT.
I be shocking if Plusnet isp closing down soon, only time will tell.
There is no indication that the brand will be shutting down, and you may not have noticed, but there is a major marketing push going on at the moment that would suggest otherwise.
The article suggests that the redundancies are related to a refocusing of the band, hopefully with the intent of targeting the needs of power users and those that only need a broadband connection, not a multi-play offering.
trust me it’s going – been on the cards since 2019.. Anyone worth keeping has already been moved over to the BT Group. The rest are cannon fodder and the Capita crew will be the first out as they all work from home
@Simon:
That is clearly not the case.
As hinted at in the article, a lot of the decline in turnover and headcount is due to a refocus of the brand. BT appears to have refined the focus of its consumer brands with the relaunch of a BT consumer brand considered as part of that exercise. You would hope that this refocusing would lead to Plusnet doubling down on satisfying power-users expectations.
“You would hope that this refocusing would lead to Plusnet doubling down on satisfying power-users expectations.”
Why? Plusnet is positioned as a ‘value’ brand, not a ‘power user’ brand.
@binary: The two are not mutually exclusive.
When I was with Plusnet for 9 years, they were okay, the customer service was fart better than BT, and yet they are part of the same company.,
I knew when the topic up for discussion was Plusnet, we were going to get a response from @Ad47uk, but was surprised when he kicked up a stink by mentioning f*rt! Then we have @Darren mentioning ass*s! Must be using the same spell check. 🙂
Just Ad47uk Blowing off about Plusnet AGAIN, hope he’s getting enough Fibre. At least we haven’t heard about ZZOOMM on this occasion!
Fart better is undoubtedly far better.
LOL, I see what I have done 🙂
Plusnet was fine, I would not have stayed with them for 9 years if they were not. the problem I had when I did have a problem was nothing to do with Plusnet, but Openreach network and then Openreach had no idea what the problem was. So I kept my old Huawei modem in place, which was the only thing that would work.
I would not have changed if they offered me what I wanted, did not try to push me to fibre and a 24-month contract
“We always felt as if it was an odd move for Plusnet not to offer an IP based phone service, particularly given how parent BT were a pioneer for this product”
This is exactly why Mark. Any customer going onto FTTP and wanting voice was put onto BT – Thwy want EE to be the one and only remaninng brand. Been that way sinve I left in 2022.
That is not true.
Most customers wanting a premium broadband service don’t take the ISP’s VOIP offering. They will more likely use a combination of mobile and independent VOIP services.
BT has just reorganised its brands, and Plusnet is part of the long-term plan. EE will remain focused on the multi-play offerings, with the BT brand there to offer landline call services.
It’s not true? Oh no seems they spent 2 years training everyone and refining it through the systems to all be wrong. And then spent 6 months trainging all thr Capita people the same.
Well I never – still I picked up my wage every month so I can’t really whinge. I’d like to know who you are. I’m Darren G, and anyone who knows who I am will know that I know about all that happens in the BT/PN/EE group
@Simon: It is clearly not true.
I am part of the current strategic cut in Plusnet employees. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with the company but as demand for cheaper is everpresent and advances in technology meaning more can be done without the need for people what company wouldn’t look to make efficiencies. But we see this trend across all sectors over multiple companies. Plusnet are a great company. But it is the people who make a company. Without people it’s just business.
@Fred: Reading your comment here, i am sorry to hear you are one of those affected by the Plusnet cuts this time. Must say you have been very magnanimous considering the circumstances. Perhaps they should be keeping you on, someone who is able to see the bigger picture, although affecting you detrimentally. Good luck, hope you find another position soon ,hopefully getting better treated next time.
Same here – but they moved me with Darren onto the BT Group. I started off in the CSC in 2004 and enjoyed all my time there espeially night shifts.
@Fred – thanks for your comments and good luck for the future.
I was under the impression that many parts of Plusnet that had thus far remained distinct were gradually being folded into the wider BT/EE consumer operations – and so Plusnet customers are increasingly being serviced by BT/EE contact centres etc. To what extent is this the case?
I was with Plusnet business broadband for many years, then BT decided they wanted business customers on BT. All they achieved was to nudge me out of the apathy of staying where I was and asses the market to find the best deal. Now BT get nothing from my business as I went elsewhere, good job BT. Someone needs to teach the management at BT, that customer acquisition is one of the largest costs to a business, so needlessly throwing away loyalty of existing customers is an expensive mistake.
there’s a far bigger picture than you paint, though. As a business owner you’ll surely know that there is a cost to retaining your customers, especially when you are being serviced through a totally different platform to the majority of users.
Perhaps BT felt that the potential (and subsequently real) loss of revenue from you is outweighed by the cost savings and being one step closer to shutting down that niche within a niche. Some degree of customer churn would have been anticipated.
An argument could be made for the BT vs EE vs PN branding on the consumer side and there seems to be an internal reversal of that Marc Allera era policy, but what did PN business offer that BT business doesn’t?
I have been with Plusnet’s for nearly 20 years but with the decline in services they had offered which made it hard to change providers I’m off to an alt next for less money £27 for 900/400 with no price increase annually there is no reason to stay.
Decline in what services? If you mean their TV and mobile phone services, that is not really anything to do with a ISP, My view is an ISP should be just that. Okay, maybe a home phone in the early days, but a lot of people don;lt even bother with home phones these days.
The reason I changed to an Altnet, because they offered a 12-month contract for a decent price, I had no interest in going for full fibre, but since at some point I would have to change, I may as well go for a better network, that was cheaper than what Plusnet offered and for me a 12-month contract. I hate long contracts, always have, that is why I have a sim only rolling monthly thing for my mobile phone.
@Ad47uk – “My view is an ISP should be just that.”
Some ISPs business models involve offering extras and value added services so as to entice customers. That’s a business decision. If you don’t think that’s anything to do with an ISP, that’s pretty irrelevant – especially if it’s a successful strategy for those ISPs.
@binary and that is why I tend not to bother with those that offers everything including the kitchen sink, I put all my eggs in one basket years ago, and it did not work out well. So now I get different services from different places. My view is if they offer too much then something is going to get overlooked.
I did I admit went to Plusnet mobile phone service, when I was with them, but gave it up after a few months. But that was a while back and never mixed services since then.
I understand what you are getting at, it is more money for the business, and some people like it because they don’t have to muck around with different companies. But not for me, as I said above, all I want is a connection to the internet.
My plusnet contract is ending in October, they have offered 12,18 and 24 month contract options.
Never had an issue with them and great support a few months ago when I needed them, uk based support, in Sheffield, we’re excellent.
Im about to start on the giff gaff trial at 500Mbps, given PN is on Openreach copper 12Mbps, my time with PN is coming to an end.
They offered me an 18 month when I told them I wanted to leave, but not a 12 month, but the price did not suit.
By that time it was too late anyway, I had another network installed.
I have FTTP 500 with Plusnet and it’s never missed a beat. A no frills ISP is exactly what I need and with the reassurance of BT behind them I plan to stay loyal as long as their price increases remain proportionate.
I remember when they first came out, oddly you could view there office webcams.
I remember when they took over an ISP I was using, called Metronet and I scarpered to another ISP pretty quick, that was in the ADSL days and before BT grabbed them.