BT stripped out £580m in costs last year, taking its total savings in the last two years to £1.5bn. The company is laying off tens of thousands of employees, largely because of a reduction in engineers but also as roles are replaced with AI.
Ms Kirkby said the increased cost-saving target reflects that the headcount reduction will be at the higher end of its previously announced plan to cut up to 55,000 jobs.
However, the telecoms chief is now under pressure to return BT to growth in an increasingly competitive market.
The company is planning to spend tens of millions of pounds attempting to revive BT Mobile after an abandoned effort to make EE the company’s flagship brand under Ms Kirkby’s predecessor.
Revenue fell 3pc to £19.7bn last year because of lower handset sales and as the company made less money from its customers. However, pre-tax profit rose 8pc to £1.4bn as cost-cutting paid off.
BT shed 825,000 customers from its Openreach broadband network last year amid fierce competition from start-up rivals known as alt-nets, though this was better than the 850,000 losses forecast. Bosses expect to lose a further 800,000 customers this year.
BT, which enjoyed its fastest-ever quarter of network build at the end of last year, reaches 23 million UK premises with its full-fibre broadband network and is on track to reach its target of 25 million by the end of this year.
Bosses reiterated a target of £2bn in free cash flow by the end of the year and £3bn by the end of the decade. The company also increased its full-year dividend to 8.32p per share.
Ms Kirkby said: “We’re pleased with the progress we’ve made but we’re also clear there’s much more to do to realise BT’s full potential.”
Separately on Thursday, Samsung, the Korean electronics giant, said staff in its semiconductor division would share a 40tn won (£20bn) payout after striking a last-minute deal with unions to avoid a strike.
The roughly 78,000 workers are expected to get an average of K₩513m each, but individual payouts are likely to vary, according to Bloomberg.
