Telstra to expand field tech workforce by 1000

Telstra will put 1000 extra communications technicians into the field over the next six months to reduce installation and fault repair times.

The new workforce will also be put to work “performing basic tasks at the exchange as part of the NBN network”.

The technicians will be a “mix” of full-time Telstra employees and IGSM sub-contractors, though the telco did not reveal the resources split.

“We know that sometimes the experience our customers can have when they need a fault fixed or a new service installed can improve and we are building up our resources to do just that,” executive director of customer service delivery Brian Harcourt said in a statement.

Telstra said 600 new technicians have started training – they must complete up to 17 weeks to qualify – and a further 140 had started work.

The hires follow a sustained period of staff reductions in functions across the telco.

Telstra this week revealed plans to reorganise its wideband design function, which could incur a net loss of 44 workers.

Earlier this month, Telstra sought voluntary redundancies from 120 of its network delivery workers in an effort to trim its technical workforce.

In August, the carrier said it would cut more than 200 jobs across its global finance and service operations businesses, potentially offshoring as many as half of the roles.

In July, it cut 326 customer support roles, with an undisclosed number transferred to the Philippines.

Late last year, it asked 150 workers in its global enterprise and services division to take a voluntary redundancy before Christmas, after shedding some 400 call centre positions.