BT publishes report that concludes it’s great

A new report commissioned by BT has concluded that it’s really important for the UK economy. Imagine BT’s surprise.

One out of every 75 quid (1.3%) produced in the UK is down to BT group, we’re told. The report, entitled The Economic Impact of BT Group plc in the UK, was compiled by Hatch Regeneris, which describes itself as follows: “We create economic and social insight to help our clients make a positive impact on people, places and economies.”

This piece of insight concluded that BT is making a positive impact on the UK economy. It says BT group contributed £22.8 billion to the UK economy when you measure Gross Value Added, which takes into account additional value generated through BT’s suppliers, which accounts for 40% of the total.

“Our analysis underlines how vast BT Group’s contribution is to the UK economy, particularly across the nations and regions,” said Tim Fanning, Director at Hatch Regeneris. “BT Group is almost unique in contributing to the economies of virtually every community across the UK, supporting significant levels of GVA spend and employment opportunities per region.”

“We’re proud to be one of the UK’s largest private sector employers and investors,” Jane Wood, BT Group UK Nations and Regions Director. “Our investments, including the latest 5G mobile technology through our mobile network EE, will ensure the UK continues to be one of the world’s best-connected economies.

“With more than 82,500 directly employed people spending their salaries in local businesses, from Shetland to the Scilly Isles, as well as regularly volunteering on activities such as our Barefoot tech literacy programme in schools, our people are at the heart of nearly every community.”

As you can see by how much BT is labouring the point, this is a fairly transparent corporate marketing exercise. As a former state monopoly and the UK’s most significant operator group, BT is under constant public scrutiny. It presumably figures commissioning benign reports such as this every now and then will help its image but they need to be a bit more subtle if it hopes to win over all but the most suggestible of people.