Vodafone Australia is slashing 100 jobs from its call centre in Hobart, the same centre for which it received a federal grant in 2013 on the promise that it would be expanded.
The company has also received aid from the state of Tasmania amounting to $850,000 and payroll tax relief.
Aid from the federal government to the tune of $4 million was provided by the Gillard government in 2013. At that time, it was said that the Hobart staff would grow from 680 to 1430.
But the sackings announced today will cut the number of workers from 400 to 300.
Tasmanian Premier Will Hodgman said Vodafone's decision was devastating and a terrible blow.
He has, however, to take back any public funds if Vodafone is found to have broken any of the funding agreements.
Vodafone chief strategy officer Dan Lloyd said in a statement said the decision had been taken due to a fall in call volumes and complaints and customers' preference for online self-service.
"We have invested around $200 million in our Hobart contact centre since 2013, and the centre will continue to be a key part of our business," he said.
A Vodafone Australia spokesperson added: "On federal funding, this agreement expired in July last year. We returned some funding due for unmet targets.
"We have not received federal or state funding since July last year.
"There is an audit process in place and if any state funding needs to be returned, we will, of course, do that."
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Sam Varghese has been writing for iTWire since 2006, a year after the site came into existence. For nearly a decade thereafter, he wrote mostly about free and open source software, based on his own use of this genre of software. Since May 2016, he has been writing across many areas of technology. He has been a journalist for nearly 40 years in India (Indian Express and Deccan Herald), the UAE (Khaleej Times) and Australia (Daily Commercial News (now defunct) and The Age). His personal blog is titled Irregular Expression.
