A total of 400 new engineers are to be recruited by BT Openreach with the expectation being that most of the new jobs will be filled by ex-Armed Forces personnel.

And many will be coming from Wiltshire with all its military bases.

The recruitment drive will see the total number of new engineers hired in 2012 rise to more than 1,000, following the employment of 600 engineers in the first half of the year.

The new recruits will boost engineer numbers at Openreach as the business prepares to deploy even more fibre broadband infrastructure across the UK.

The extra engineers will play an important role by joining the business’s mobile workforce, reacting quickly to changes in service requirements from communications providers and helping tackle peaks in demand for fibre broadband around the country.

The announcement was welcomed by Jeremy Hunt, the Secretary Of State for Culture, Media, Olympics and Sport, who said: “This is good news not only for the 400 people who secure one of the new jobs but for the whole of the country. “BT is creating jobs while rolling-out the digital infrastructure UK businesses need to grow.

“Digital technology is fundamental to the way we live our lives and the way we do business, which is why we want the UK to have the best and the fastest superfast broadband in Europe by 2015.”

Openreach is liaising with The Career Transition Partnership, an arrangement between the Ministry of Defence and Right Management, to help facilitate recruitment of the new engineers.

The CTP provides career guidance along with training and employment support to those leaving the Armed Forces.