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Australia telecom giant Telstra to axe 8,000 jobs
SYDNEY, June 20, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Australia’s dominant telecommunications
company Telstra Wednesday announced plans to axe 8,000 jobs — a quarter of
its workforce — as part of a drastic new strategy to cope with an
increasingly competitive industry.
The decision by the company, one of Australia’s largest employers, is part
of a shake-up targeting an extra Aus$1 billion (US$750 million) in cost-
cutting by 2022, on top of Aus$1.5 billion previously announced.
To create a leaner operation, it will also split its mobile and
infrastructure divisions into separate businesses.
“We are creating a new Telstra that is able to continue to lead the
market,” said chief executive Andrew Penn.
“In the future our workforce will be a smaller, knowledge-based one with a
structure and way of working that is agile enough to deal with rapid change.
“This means that some roles will no longer be required, some will change
and there will also be new ones created.”
The cuts come less than a month after Telstra said its 2017/18 earnings
will likely be at the bottom of its guidance range of Aus$10.1 billion to
Aus$10.6 billion, blaming increasing competition in mobile and fixed
broadband.
That earnings warning sent its shares tumbling to a more-than six-year low
of Aus$2.71.
They had partially recovered since, but took another hit on Wednesday,
crashing almost seven percent at one point before bouncing slightly to be
trading 5.3 percent lower at Aus$2.75 late morning.
CMC Markets chief market analyst Michael McCarthy said the restructure plan
may not be enough to please investors, who have watched Telstra’s share price
almost halve in the past year.
“Some investors think the Telstra patient needs radical surgery, and could
view today’s measures as band-aids,” he said.
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– Tipping point –
Telstra employs 32,000 people across 20 countries, according to its most
recent annual report. Of the jobs to go, one in four will be executive and
middle management roles.
Penn said the company had to take action to stay on top in a highly
competitive market.
“The rate and pace of change in our industry is increasingly driven by
technological innovation and competition,” he said.
“In this environment traditional companies that do not respond are most at
risk.
“We have worked hard preparing Telstra for this market dynamic while
ensuring we did not act precipitously. However, we are now at a tipping point
where we must act more boldly if we are to continue to be the nation’s
leading telecommunications company.”
Telstra has a range of businesses including fixed broadband, mobile, data
and IP, network application and services and digital media.
Part of its new strategy will see it create a wholly-owned standalone
infrastructure business unit from July 1.
Called Telstra InfraCo, it will comprise the telecom’s fixed-network
infrastructure including data centres, non-mobiles related domestic fibre,
international subsea cables, exchanges, poles, ducts and pipes.
Its services will be sold to Telstra, wholesale customers and Australia’s
National Broadband Network, controlling assets with a book value of about
Aus$11 billion.
“As technology innovation is increasingly relying on connectivity, the role
of telecommunications infrastructure is becoming more important,” said Penn.
“There is virtually no technological innovation happening today that does
not rely on a high-quality, reliable, safe and secure telecommunications
network.
“In this world our infrastructure assets are becoming more valuable. By
creating a new infrastructure-focused business unit we will better optimise
and manage these assets.”
Telstra also intends to “monetise assets of up to Aus$2 billion over the
next two years to strengthen the balance sheet”, and has set aside Aus$600
million in restructuring costs.
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