Telstra to cut 800 jobs

As part of a five-year Transformation plan, cuts will be made across Telstra Consumer & Channels, Telstra Business, Telstra Country Wide, BigPond, Strategic Marketing, and Telstra Product Management.

The changes will affect senior and middle managers, professional services and support staff.

The jobs are based mainly in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Customer-facing roles are unaffected.

"In November 2005, we announced every part of our business would be transformed to make it more productive and customer focused, including a significant reduction in our workforce," said Sol Trujillo, CEO Telstra.

"This announcement is part of Telstra's overall strategy and does not deviate from our original guidance.

"We are now evolving into a more aligned organisation that will provide better services to our customers and enable us to continue delivering world-leading financial results."

Trujillo said in a statement that as part of the Transformation, BigPond's internet access business will be integrated with the rest of Telstra.

"The capabilities of our market-based management tools and the migration of customers onto a single billing platform make BigPond's reintegration a logical next step in our strategy,” he said.

He claims the changes at BigPond means Telstra can prioritise its media assets as it steps up to become a media-comms company.

Trujillo announced that a new unit, Telstra Media, would be created to focus on online and mobile content.

The unit, to be led by current BigPond Group managing director Justin Milne, will have oversight of Telstra's portfolio of online consumer content, both in Australia and internationally.

"Establishing Telstra Media as a separate unit recognises the growing importance of content to Telstra's future, and our belief that content lies at the heart of Telstra's future as a media-comms company," added Trujillo.