Telstra to axe 1400 jobs in cost-cutting drive

TELSTRA is about to wield the axe and cull 1400 jobs as it frantically cuts costs amid fierce competition.

Telstra is rumoured to be about to axe 1500 workers.

TELSTRA will slash 1400 jobs nationwide across every ­department, its deepest cuts in four years.

The telco dropped the bombshell to staff in a series of meetings this afternoon.

Some sources said Victoria would lose 130 full-time jobs, ­though other insiders said this was conservative given that Telstra’s HQ is in Melbourne.

The cuts are bound to be noticed by consumers, with expected reductions in manpower in the construction and maintenance areas, including in the division repairing copper phone lines, as well as in staff serving customers in Telstra’s retail stores.

The sales department, Telstra Business — which serves small-business clients — and the media and marketing ­departments will also be hit.

Telstra chief Andrew Penn. Picture: Renee Nowytarger/The Australian

In February, the Herald Sun revealed Telstra had carried out a huge round of job cuts, axing almost 1100 positions over six months.

At the time, it was revealed more cuts were on the way, with the telco using external consultants to look at options for further savings.

The current round sees the deepest cuts since August 2013, when the telco revealed it had cut 2251 jobs in the previous ­financial year. Telstra employs about 32,000 full-time staff ­nationwide.

Meetings will be held with the Communications Workers Union on Thursday to ­discuss the cuts. Telstra chief executive Andrew Penn said the telco was being buffeted by tough competition and the introduction of the National Broadband Network. Earnings would drop by up to $3 billion due to the NBN rollout.

“We need to transform, urgently,” Mr Penn said. “We will need to become a leaner ­organisation, one built on digitised systems and services for customers and employees, and one where we will continue to rely on partners for scale.”

He said the cuts would be felt in “most parts of the business, at all levels of seniority and from all states and territories and, in some cases, internationally”.

He denied they would have an impact on customer service.

Mr Penn added: “Change of this magnitude is always hard ... Our proposal for these changes has been made after careful deliberation.”

The telco earlier this year said it would have restructuring costs — which often ­include redundancies — for the financial year of up to $500 million. It is looking to save $1 billion over the next five years,

Pressure has been building on Telstra since February when its net profit for the six months to December clocked in at $1.79 billion — down 14.4 per cent on the same period a year earlier. That came as revenue dipped 6.4 per cent to $12.8 billion.

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