Most ISPs, excluding Virgin Media, use Openreach’s copper and fibre phone network to provide services to residential and business users.
Although part of the BT Group, Openreach operates separately from the firm’s business and residential services and provides access to all ISPs on equal terms overseen by telecoms regulator Ofcom.
End users frequently take to social media to complain of delayed or missed appointments caused by failings within Openreach or to query long lead time for new connections and house moves.
The need to respond to poor weather and local incidents can add further delays to wait times.
With web access becoming increasingly essential for most UK homes, and with BT and TalkTalk offering subscription TV services over broadband, delays in carrying out repairs can be a cause of major frustration for users.
Openreach say the new engineers will allow it to “install new lines and fix faults more quickly” and has committed to publishing regular performance data online from this summer.
Joe Garner, CEO, Openreach, said: “Millions of customers depend on broadband and they rely on us to keep them connected, whatever the weather.”
The company says it’s keen to recruit more women engineers and will also recruit some of the new in-take from the armed forces through its Civilian Work Attachment scheme which “helps to facilitate a smooth transition from the forces into the civilian workplace.”