The $290 million 'Project New' program, announced to combat loss of revenue in key areas like traditional fixed-line telephone services, involved across the company.

Among the changes were a combination of the telco's consumer and regional telephony businesses, and the replacement of 950 middle management roles with 33 area general managers. Some 300 managers were also made redundant in the process.

The program has been run by Robert Nason, Telstra's group managing director of customer satisfaction, simplification and productivity.

In its half-yearly financial results for the six months ending 31 December, Telstra revealed reductions in amounts of staff by 3500, or 8.1 per cent of the company's total workforce and in particular a decline in domestic staff of 954 personnel over the year.