British Telecom is to cut about 2,200 jobs from its IT services division Ignite.

The move is part of BT's already announced plan to reduce its staff numbers by between 5,000 and 6,000 a year over the next three years.

Ignite builds corporate IT systems for companies such as Fujitsu, Lufthansa and BMW.

It employs about 17,000 staff - the majority in the UK with others based across mainland Europe.

About half the job cuts will come in the UK, but BT said the losses would be made through voluntary redundancies and natural wastage.

Jobs will be trimmed from Ignite's administration unit, but the business will also be hiring about 1,200 extra staff to work in sales and marketing.

Cost-cutting

The heavily-indebted telecoms giant, which owed �13.6bn ($20bn) at the end of last year, has said it is aiming to cut its debts to below �10bn by 2005.

BT has previously announced that it plans to cut 13,000 posts across the group by April 2003.

Earlier this year it said it was to cut 2,200 jobs as part of a major reorganisation of its call centre operations.

Last month it pledged to boost customer satisfaction and control costs as part of a new three-year growth plan.

It is also hoping for a sharp increase in the take-up of broadband internet services by consumers.

How successful BT has been in its restructuring efforts should become more apparent on Thursday, when the firm is due to release its full-year results.