Telstra to cut 2800 jobs

Telstra is cutting over 2800 jobs by the end of the year, stating competition from cheaper internet-based communications services.

Telstra also plans to raise prices to  stop its traditional annual inflation-linked price reviews for its monthly mobile plans.

Telstra chief executive Vicki Brady said:  Telstra wants the “flexibility to adjust prices at different times.”

Ms Brady said Telstra was grappling with “an evolving competitive landscape, rapid advances in technology, changing customer needs, and the ongoing inflationary pressures facing all businesses” and would invest more money in data services.

Some 377 jobs will go immediately, with thousands of other jobs scheduled to go by the end of December.

Many of the job losses will be in the enterprise business, which includes the Telstra Purple group that consults on “digital innovation.” Telstra is cutting the number of products it sells by two-thirds to stem sliding earnings.

James Perkins, national assistant secretary of the Communications Workers Union, said the job cuts were “absolutely appalling.”

Telstra said the job losses, combined with reductions in other costs, would help it lower costs by $350 million by the end of fiscal 2025 and meet earnings targets. 

Optus has also been struggling with falling profits in its enterprise business, with parent Singtel taking a $540 million writedown on the Australian group’s enterprise assets.

Telstra will provide more information on the restructuring at its full-year results in August.

- CyberBeat