Telstra slashes 472 jobs as it automates more operations
Telstra will spend the next two weeks consulting with employees after confirming it will cut 472 jobs so it can automate operations and compete harder with software-based rivals for business customers.
As previously reported by The Australian Financial Review, the telecommunications group has been overhauling its operations and reviewing jobs as it tries to slash $500 million in costs as part of its T25 strategy.
Telstra is axing nearly 500 jobs as it moves to save costs. Oscar Colman
The job cuts are understood to be mostly in the company’s enterprise division, which includes data, connectivity and network services and is responsible for negotiating big contracts with corporate clients.
A Telstra spokesman said the job losses would be in divisions with legacy products and services, and that it planned to use digitisation, automation and technology to become more efficient.
Telstra, which employs about 30,000 people, does not plan to get rid of jobs in consumer service teams that deal with customers in stores or over the phone.
Negotiations with employees are expected to occur over the next two weeks and include forced and voluntary redundancies. Some people who are affected by the cuts will be offered jobs in other parts of the company.
Telstra’s revenues from traditional telecommunications services have been declining as the company faces more competition from software groups such as Cisco Systems, Juniper Networks and Australia’s Megaport that provide software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) services.
Telstra CEO Vicki Brady is trying to make the company more efficient Natalie Boog
These services allow businesses to manage their data through cloud-based networks rather than physical centres, and are typically
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