Telstra to axe 1,100 operational jobs

Australia's leading telecommunications provider, Telstra Corporation Ltd plans to slash around 1,100 jobs from its operations division by next June, as the company is shifting its focus away from its traditional business.

According to the company's chief operation's officer, Brendon Riley, the job cuts are part of the restructuring plan announced earlier in May. (See: Telstra may axe hundreds of jobs in major restructure)

Telstra had said that it will focus more on high-growth areas such as wireless, National Broadband Network (NBN) and network services, while cutting back on its loss-making operations.

"At the time we said we expected there to be impacts on jobs from these changes and, after reviewing the business over the last few months, today we briefed our people on the expected impacts," Riley said.

"Always when there are implications for people's jobs it is difficult, and this is no exception. We will work through a careful consultation process with our people and we will do so with the utmost respect and sensitivity," he further stated.

The job cuts announced amount to about 6 per cent of Telstra's operations workforce. It is believed that the company's customer service and media divisions are also under review.

According to the worker's union, the staff members have not been properly consulted and no actual numbers or detail on the areas, were provided when the company made the announcement earlier.

Telstra had a total workforce of nearly 38,700 as at the end of December 2012, about 2,500 less than a year ago. The company has cut around 8,000 jobs in the last four years.

Melbourne-based Telstra builds and operates telecommunication networks and provides voice, mobile, internet and pay television services. It has over 8 million fixed line and 14 million mobile customers.

The company's global division Telstra Global is a supplier of managed network services and international data, voice and satellite services. Telstra serves many of the world's top companies, spanning Europe, Asia Pacific and the Americas.

Telstra Operations is responsible for all aspects of its networks covering design, engineering, construction and providing customer services and also NBN-related infrastructure and network application services.

Last week, Telstra joined hands with Motorola Solutions to build and operate Queensland's government wireless network worth $457 million.

For the fiscal year ended June, the company reported revenue of $26 billion, up 1.9 per cent compared to the previous year and a 12.9 per cent rise in net profit at $3.9 billion.

''Our strategic focus remains on improving customer satisfaction, growing our customer base, simplifying the business and finding new growth opportunities. We believe there remains further opportunity to improve operational efficiency while at the same time growing new business opportunities,'' the company's chief executive David Thodey had said.

The company has been focusing on its network applications and services (NAS) portfolio, which includes a $1.1-billion contract with the defence department, international agreements with Jetstar Airways and health club group Fitness First.

The NAS growth plan envisages developments, particularly in the Asia region and efforts are underway to establish delivery centres in conjunction with local partners in India.