Call centre outsourcing company Salmat has announced that Telstra is dispensing with most of the call centre services it supplies to the carrier.

With a loss of business estimated at between AU$4 million and AU$5 million in EBITDA terms, the company will be closing call centres in regional centres Geelong, Wagga Wagga and Bundaberg, as well as the inner city suburb of Surry Hills.

The closures will result in job losses for around 740 staff, with more than 140 in Wagga Wagga, 330 in Sydney, and the rest in Victoria (Geelong) and Queensland (Bundaberg). Management is reported on ABC News to have said that the regional sites were "tied to the Telstra contract".

Putting the best face on things, Salmat’s announcement to the stock exchange said it wished to "move away from labour hire call centre contracts such as the current Telstra arrangement". ®

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