Telstra to lay off 1,100 employees, more cuts to come

Telstra (ASX: TLS.AX), Australia's incumbent telco, announced that it is going to cut 1,100 employees--mainly wireline network technicians--from its operations division by next June.

This round of job cuts will affect network technicians in New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, Queensland, and the ACT.

In addition, the service provider is going to review its customer service division and its media unit.

Brendon Riley, Telstra's COO, said in an ARN article that the company plans to reduce its size as it looks to focus on growth areas

"Overall, I would say probably every year we will get a little bit smaller," he said. "I don't know about indefinitely, but I think certainly for the next few years that will be the case."

Australian unions that represent the telco's wireline workers say that the cuts come at a time when it is seeing a high number of issues with the copper network and profits. However, the service provider said the workforce reduction is needed to simplify the company and focus on growth.

For more:
- ARN has this article

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