Telstra axes 500 jobs

Hundreds of workers will lose their jobs when Telstra closes call centres in Wollongong, Canberra, Launceston and Newcastle.

The company plans to consolidate its national service faults and difficulties, activation and some BigPond technical support call centres in Townsville, Perth, Melbourne, and Sydney.

Telstra Services Group managing director Michael Rocca said 500 jobs would go over 12 months, but the consolidation of call centres would improve service for customers.

Community and Public Sector Union national secretary Stephen Jones said the job losses would hurt local communities and lead to poorer communications services.