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Communications giant looks to recruit more female apprentices in Wales ; BT to roll out super-fast fibre broadband by 2016 [South Wales Evening Post (Wales)](South Wales Evening Post (Wales) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) COMMUNICATIONS giant BT is looking to recruit more female apprentices as it rolls out superfast fibre broadband across Wales. The company, which already provides work for around 400 people in Swansea, is looking to take on around 100 apprentices to support the development of Superfast Cymru. The project by the Welsh Government and BT which will help the Welsh Government achieve its aim of taking fibre broadband to 96 per cent of Welsh homes and businesses by 2016. Anne Beynon, director of BT in Wales, said: We would really like women to apply for the apprenticeships. We find it really difficult to get women to apply for these posts. The women we have had apply so far have been fantastic. I think in the STEM (science, technology, energy, mathematics) subjects there is a belief that boys do science and women do arts. We are looking to do more to try to get even primary schools thinking about women in science. The BT director is in the minority of women on the board of the business which also includes Open Reach chief executive officer Olivia Garfield. From spring 2013 Openreach aims to start to make fibre-to-the- premises (FTTP) technology, where the fibre runs all the way to the home or business, commercially available on demand4 in areas where fibre broadband has been deployed. Ed Hunt, programme director of Superfast Cymru, said: Where BT has invested 50 per cent, it covers Cardiff, Newport, Swansea and Llanelli going up into the valleys. The Welsh Government is focused on jobs, prosperity and growth and one of the key drivers for that is good quality broadband. It means businesses will not have to move. Children who have gone to university can come back to Wales. Between BT and the Welsh Government, Pounds 420million is going into rolling out super-fast broadband in Wales. We are going to cover 95 per cent of premises in Wales with fibre broadband speeds. A report earlier this year into the benefits of fibre broadband in Northern Ireland revealed the deployment of fibre by sectors including financial, retail and advanced manufacturing has the potential to generate more than Pounds 750 million in additional revenue by 2018. (c) 2013 ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved. |