Giant telco Telstra Corporation announced on Thursday its decision to axe 79 employees at the Ballarat call centre in Victoria, saying that the function of the centre would instead be outsourced to an overseas firm.

Telstra spokeswoman Karina Keisler said that Dorothy Farmer Personnel, direct employer of the affected workers, that the telco's Country Wide service would be downgraded to fewer personnel and much of its responsibilities would be handled by a foreign call centre outfit.

Keisler added that the agency has been advised and its employees were subsequently notified of the company's move to end their contracts in a month's time but Telstra issued assurance at the same time that "the vast majority of the centre remains unaffected."

Despite the decision to transfer the call centre function and let go of the Victorian workers, Telstra reaffirmed its commitment in the region by ensuring that "we will continue to invest in the local community and in that call centre."

However, community leaders in the area scored the company's decision and Victoria CEPU acting branch secretary John Ellery said that Telstra's move represents a disease that would only frustrate its customers.

Ellery said that cutting jobs in a community and shipping them abroad would only hurt the company's standing before its clients as he stressed that "Telstra has got a real long-term problem and moves like this will not help them."

The call centre's shutting down came following an earlier decision by Telstra in November to close a similar division and lay off 108 employees in New South Wales, apart from its initial revelation that up to 950 executives would be affected by plans to nix management positions in the firm.