Telstra

Financial Context

Illustrative wage differential: if the 12,228+ reported offshore roles were instead employed in Australia at average local rates, the additional cost could be in the order of ~$1.0B/yr (~57.7% of reported net profit). This is an estimate based on industry averages, not company-specific data.

Would this company be profitable without offshoring?

Every dollar paid offshore leaves the Australian economy, reducing local wages, tax receipts, and economic circulation. Why it matters

Financial data: FY2024. Estimate uses avg AU employment cost of $110,000+/yr (incl. super and on-costs) vs offshore $25,000/yr (salary + on-costs). Actual figures vary by role, seniority, and location.

In Plain English

• In 2026, Telstra was reported to have 12,228+ offshore contractors and staff.
• This represents ~26.5% when compared to its current workforce of 46,094 (illustrative comparison only, not directly reported by the company).
• 🇮🇳 9,954+ staff reported in India in Back Office, IT, Engineering.
• 🇵🇭 2,274+ staff reported in Philippines in Back Office, Customer Support, Other.
• Known outsourcing partners include Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Infosys, Accenture, Deloitte, PwC, EY, KPMG, DXC Technology, IBM, McKinsey, Concentrix.
• 24,076 Australian jobs have been cut, with some occurring during periods of offshore expansion.

Based on data from public sources at the dates reported. Figures may not reflect current headcount. See sources below for full attribution.

The Story

• FY26 (30 June 2026)Telstra's own modern slavery statement now publishes its workforce by location, and the numbers are larger than this site previously carried. At 30 June 2026 Telstra had 9,954 people in India (2,513 direct employees and 7,441 engaged through industry partners) and 2,274 in the Philippines (1,907 direct, 367 indirect): 12,228 between them, against 30,605 in Australia. Globally its indirect workforce is 15,615 people across 32 countries, and 52.5% of that indirect workforce sits outside Australia. Telstra says plainly where those people work: "Most of our indirect workforce supports customer-facing and back-office processing services. Our main locations for indirect workers are Australia, India and the Philippines." This replaces an estimate of 10,000 that this site had taken from a news report, so the correction runs upwards. Telstra's Pacific operations are not counted here. It has 811 people in Papua New Guinea, 538 in Fiji, 147 in Vanuatu and 133 in Samoa, and those serve local customers rather than performing Australian work, the same reason ASB is excluded from CBA's figure. The percentage shown uses Telstra's combined direct and indirect workforce of 46,094, because the location totals include both. [Telstra Modern Slavery Act Statement 2026 (p8)]
• February 2026Telstra cut ~840 roles in its Feb 11 2026 restructure: 631 from Telstra Enterprise Service & Delivery by June 30 2026 (of which 442 are outsourced to Infosys, 254 move to Infosys-controlled roles proposed to remain in Australia, and the remainder eliminated) plus 209 from the Telstra-Accenture AI joint venture, with some work moved to Accenture's India hub. Spokesperson: "If the proposal proceeds, some work in our Service and Delivery team would move to Infosys, and some roles would no longer be required." CEO Vicki Brady told investors Telstra would likely have a "smaller workforce by 2030" due to AI. Telstra now has ~30,000 FTEs. The $700M Accenture partnership announced 13 months earlier began cutting Australian jobs. [Information Age (ACS)]
• August 2025Infosys acquired a 75% stake in Versent Group, Telstra's wholly owned digital transformation subsidiary, for AUD $233.3 million. Telstra retains a 25% minority interest. 650 Australian ICT engineers, advisors and strategists pass to Infosys operational control. Versent combines with Telstra Purple Digital and Epicon, and integrates with Infosys Topaz (AI), Cobalt (cloud) and The Missing Link (cybersecurity). Communications Workers Union called it "offshoring by stealth": Australian services expertise "sacrificed to overseas interests." [iTnews]
• January 2025Telstra announced a $700 million joint venture with Accenture to integrate AI across operations over seven years. Framed as creating new capability and 'enhancing process efficiency.' The venture began cutting Australian roles just over a year later. [Inductus GCC Report / Startup Daily]
• 2022Telstra announced it would return voice customer service calls to Australian agents, while keeping digital channels (email, chat, social media) offshore. [Matchboard]
• January 2019Telstra opened an innovation and capability centre in Bangalore for software engineering, information security, and cybersecurity. CEO Andy Penn said the company was "sourcing far more of this talent from outside Australia than from within". [iTnews]
• 2018As part of the T22 strategy, Telstra announced 9,500 roles would be eliminated. 1,500 new technology roles were created, the majority filled by offshore workers in India. [iTnews]
• 2014Telstra outsourced the functions of 463 internal positions and 208 contractor roles to Indian centres. [iTnews]
• 2013Telstra revealed it had 10,000 overseas contractors, approximately 26% of its full-time workforce of 38,000. The majority were in India across call centres (run by Tata, Wipro, Infotech with nearly 2,500 people from 4 sites) and a Bangalore innovation centre with 1,000+ employees. [Delimiter]
• 2013Telstra said it would cut up to 170 jobs as it shifted part of its back office operations to India. The cuts came from its Network Applications and Services division, all from sites in Hobart and Canberra, and were to begin in October and take six to 12 months. [InvestSMART]

All facts sourced from public reporting. No editorial commentary. Click source links to verify.