Telstra to slash 1400 jobs

TELSTRA will shed around 1400 employees from its workforce in the latest round of cuts at the telco. It is understood jobs will go across all divisions.

Telstra is axing more jobs.

TELSTRA will shed around 1400 employees from its workforce in the latest round of cuts at the telco. It is understood jobs will go across all divisions.

Telstra is talking with employees and is expected to release further details later on Wednesday.

The news comes only a year after the telco giant cut 326 roles across its sales, service and national office teams, saying there was less need for call centre workers with more than 50 per cent of its customer interactions happening online.

Telstra has more than 32,000 full-time staff.

Fierce price competition and lower regulated call charges led to the telco giant’s worse-than-expected first-half net profit and a cut in its full-year income forecast.

In February, Telstra reported first-half net profit dropped 14.4 per cent to $1.79 billion on the back of a 6.4 per cent fall in revenue to $12.80 billion. The telco reaffirmed its guidance for low-to-mid-single digit earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation growth and free cash flow of between $3.5 to $4 billion for 2016/17.

It also flagged restructuring costs for the full financial year of between $300-500 million.

Investors have shrugged off the news of job losses, however, with Telstra shares up 0.46 per cent at $4.40 at 1202 AEST on Wednesday.

Originally published as Telstra to slash 1400 jobs