100s of BT jobs to go in Scotland

BT said it had been a "challenging year"

The telecoms company BT has said job losses in Scotland will be in the hundreds rather than the thousands.

BT hopes to cut 15,000 posts over the next year, after reporting a loss over the last 12 months of £134m.

The firm said it hoped to lose the jobs through natural wastage and voluntary redundancy schemes.

BT employs 7,500 people in Scotland directly or as full time contractors with a further 12,500 dependant on the company through the supply chain.

It said it was too early to tell what jobs would go and where - but added that it was hoping to cut 10% without making compulsory redundancies.

This is the second year of substantial job cuts; 15,000 posts went last year.

BT's latest woes centre on its global services unit, which handles the network systems of large firms. BT said it had taken a near £1.6bn write-down at this unit.

The company said it would make £525m of pension contributions in each of the next three years to help cut the scheme's deficit.

It also cut its dividend sharply, from 15.8 pence to 6.5p.