Telstra will axe about 1400 jobs across the country as part of a huge cost-cutting drive that could wipe out nearly five per cent of its entire workforce.
Employees across all divisions - including in the telecommunication giant's vast field workforce of line technicians, maintenance and installation workers - are all feared to be in danger of losing their jobs.
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Telstra axes 1400 jobs
The telecommunications company is expected to make a formal annoucement after it has notifed staff. Vision courtesy ABC News
Union officials said many workers had been left in the dark as news of the looming job cuts circulated on Wednesday morning.
"It's disrespectful to our members, their families and the union," said John O'Donnell, assistant divisional secretary of the Communication Workers Union.
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"We need accurate details from Telstra."
Mr O'Donnell said union officials were scheduled to meet with management to discuss the retrenchments later this week.
In a memo to staff on Wednesday afternoon, Telstra chief executive Andrew Penn outlined a need to become a "leaner and more nimble" organisation. He cited increased competition and an expected earnings shortfall of up to $3 billion due to the rollout of the National Broadband Network.
Mr Penn also said some of Telstra's existing jobs would no longer exist in the future. New roles would need to focus on expanding into software, robotics and artificial intelligence, he said.
"I recognise this will be difficult for some," he said, "but please understand that we must make these changes to ensure we remain a great company."
Staff were being briefed on the cuts throughout the day on Wednesday. Telstra has more than 32,000 full-time employees across Australia.
The staff memo stated that up to 1400 jobs would be lost within six months.
But according to calculations by the Community and Public Sector Union, the number of Telstra staff set to lose their jobs could be more than 1700 nationwide.
The union said the cuts would have a dramatic impact on customer service.
"Telstra customers know that the quality and reliability of the services they're paying for has been on the slide for several years, whether it be mobile phones, internet or otherwise," CPSU deputy secretary Melissa Donnelly said.
"Telstra's decision to slash another 1700 jobs means customers should brace for services to get even worse."
Ms Donnelly said there was a "bitter irony" in the fact that many of the workers facing the axe included the very staff who dealt with the "ballooning number of complaints" from Telstra customers.
"This decision may prop up Telstra's share price in the short term, but this is a race to the bottom," she said.
"Customers want to know that when they're paying top dollar for a service, it will work when they need it to and that they'll be able to speak with someone who can actually help them."
On Wednesday, Telstra shares dropped 2¢, to $4.36.
In November, Telstra revealed plans to cut fixed costs by more than $1 billion over the next five years.