Telco giant Telstra has rolled out new phone offers for struggling customers and also more jobs

The nation’s largest telco has announced it’s creating thousands of new jobs and offering new deals for cash-strapped customers struggling to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Telco giant Telstra has announced the creation of thousands of new jobs while also rolling out new relief measures for cash-strapped customers.

The company today revealed it had increased its workforce by another 2500 staff – on top of 1000 recruited in recent weeks – to help bolster support for its customers struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Telstra already received 19,000 job applications in recent weeks for its initial new 1000 roles.

But of the newly announced 2500 jobs some will come from the 19,000 applications while other workers will be hired from other companies and businesses where they were laid off.

Mr Penn said the new jobs would be in Australian call centres and back of house.

“It’s people that are working behind the scenes helping address customer services such as activations and fixing faults,” he said.

“We already have 4000 people in our call centres in Australia but it’s really beefing up that capacity.”

He said they were also using store staff to do some of the roles given the significant reduction in foot traffic to their bricks and mortar locations.

Mr Penn said for people looking to apply for the new job they should visit the Telstra website.

“Go online to our website and go through an automated process,” he said.

New mobile offers are also for customers receiving the new Job Seeker benefit they would get a discount on their existing services to relieve some of their financial pain.

Telstra CEO Andy Penn working from home in times of COVID-19 has announced a series of measures to help cash-strapped Australians.

Those who have a fixed connection or several mobile devices can receive $20 off their bill.

For those with a single mobile phone service they can receive $10 off their bill.

The offer will be available from April 20 for six months.

To be eligible customers must enter their Centrelink customer reference number (CRN) online when visiting their account on the Telstra website.

Telstra has also rolled out a new $30 per month mobile offer for anybody who holds a valid Healthcare card.

This includes unlimited national calls and text and no excess data charges on the 2GB plan.

Telstra said they would also support struggling small businesses and for those who have been forced to cease trading they would suspend their fixed-line services.

Calls can be diverted to another service including a fixed line or mobile phone at no extra cost.

Mr Penn said broadband connectivity was “absolutely critical” right now and he had seen “very significant increases in data usage on both the fixed and mobile network”.

Earlier this week telco giant Vodafone revealed they would roll out temporary $10 plans.

They introduced a new temporary plan to provide financial relief for customers struggling with money woes amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

To be eligible customers must apply via the Vodafone website.

@sophieelsworth

Originally published as Telco giant Telstra has rolled out new phone offers for struggling customers and also more jobs