Telstra could be cutting over 500 jobs as the telco rolls out AI capabilities and sends some jobs to India.
This follows Telstra announcing a A$700 million joint venture (JV) with technology consultancy Accenture early last year to boost efficiency, modernisation and productivity.
The job cuts were confirmed by a JV spokesperson who said that the team had been notified about proposed changes to its workforce, including reducing roles where work is no longer needed, and moving some work to the JV team in India.
If the changes proceed, the spokesperson said affected team members would be helped to find new jobs at either Telstra or Accenture, or have “access to our leading career transition program and retrenchment benefits”.
The spokesperson also said that the companies anticipate that this will result in improved cost efficiencies and enhanced customer experience in the long run.
“These changes would see the JV use Accenture’s global capabilities, advanced AI expertise and specialist hub in India to deliver Telstra’s data and AI roadmap more quickly,” they said.
It is understood that around 209 jobs face the axe. Tesltra workers said they also had been notified of more than 400 potential job losses.
This follows a string of job cuts from Telstra over recent years.
In 2024, the company announced that it would cut 2,800 jobs from its enterprise business, which services businesses and government agencies.
Then in 2025, the telco said “AI efficiencies” would allow it to shrink its workforce by 2030. This included the 550 job cuts that were announced in July 2025.
Telstra’s chief executive, Vicki Brady, said AI would “be a significant unlock when it comes to enabling our workforce”.
She said Agentic AI, which can work autonomously, would be working alongside Telstra staff.
"These proposals are intended to help us reduce complexity, be more competitive and operate more efficiently and sustainably," Brady wrote to staff.
"This is important for us to deliver on our Connected Future 30 ambition by providing simpler, faster and more competitive experiences for our customers."
Connected Future 30 is a five-year strategy designed to further integrate artificial intelligence into the business.
Optus also said AI would play a big role in telecommunications but that humans would remain central.
At the time of writing, Telstra (ASX: TLS) was up 0.10% to $4.88, and its market cap is $54.98 billion.
Accenture (NYSE: ACN) stock closed down 4.31% to US$230.49. Its market cap is $141.82 billion.
