BT Openreach, which is responsible for ensuring that all rival UK ISPs have equality of access to the operators local network, has announced its intention to recruit around 200 ex-Armed Forces personnel to help deliver its super-fast 'up to' 40Mbps FTTC and 100Mbps+ FTTP fibre optic broadband services.

The admittedly somewhat unusual move, which will involve hiring men and women that are often perceived as being better at fighting wars and Taliban insurgents than splicing fibre optic cables, could still prove to be a stroke of genius from BT and might also help to tackle the operators backlog of work and resultant delays (example).

The army does quite an impressive job of training its troops and also diverges into many different fields, including various forms of engineering. BT's new personnel can expect to start their jobs this May 2011 and will immediately join the operator's mobile engineering workforce. A little added military precision might prove to be a big bonus.



It's understood that the service leavers will also receive other benefits, such as grants, allowances, travel warrants, resettlement leave, transition workshops, one-to-one career guidance support, subsidised vocational training support, housing advice, financial briefs and employment support.

Meanwhile BT is currently spending £2.5bn to help make its superfast broadband services available to 66% or more of the UK by 2015. By the end of next year (2012) some 40% of homes in the country will have access to its new services.