Australia telecom giant Telstra to axe 8,000 jobs

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."