Australia's Telstra to slash 6,000 jobs: Reports

SYDNEY: Australian telecoms giant Telstra Thursday said it would slash jobs to "improve customer satisfaction" but refused to confirm a report that 6,000 workers were facing the axe.

The firm acknowledged it would slim down its management and customer service ranks after the Australian Financial Review reported the former state monopoly was set to scythe about 15 percent of its workforce.

"These initiatives will allow Telstra to provide a higher quality of customer service, and unfortunately require fewer staff over time," it said in a statement sent to AFP.

"Telstra has not confirmed the number of affected employees -- and when we do, we will first speak directly to them."

Telstra said it would make job cuts by "simplifying customer processes, reducing bureaucracy especially in management layers, and introducing optional self-service systems online".

The Financial Review, citing "well-placed sources", reported thousands more positions would be lost -- on top of the 6,000 -- through natural attrition as Telstra seeks to revive its earnings and share price.

The report said that by 2013, Telstra's full-time workforce would be less than half the 77,000 it had at privatisation in 1997.

Telstra signed an 11 billion dollar (10.7 billion US) agreement in June to hand over infrastructure for the government's National Broadband Network, which aims to connect more than 90 percent of homes with high-speed Internet.

But it later warned there was "no guarantee" the deal would go ahead. Australia's Labor government has only a tenuous grasp on power after August elections and the opposition has pledged to scrap the 43 billion dollar scheme.

The company's share price, which has plunged to near-record lows over the uncertainty, was about 0.03 percent down at 2.65 Australian dollars on Thursday in a falling market.

The world's richest man Carlos Slim revived debate over the broadband scheme -- a key aim of the new government -- when he said the network would cost "too much money".

"It's not necessary to invest so much money because technology is changing all the time," he said at a conference in Sydney, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.