Telstra Moves to the Philippines… But Not (Yet) in the Way the Locals Wanted

July 8, 2016 Joy Adalia

In the Philippines, rumors ran rife about Australian telecommunications company, Telstra Corp. shaking up the local telecoms giants with its entry in the market, pushing internet and cellular prices to go down and services to go up.

Among the rumored comparisons circulating on social media Photo credit: astig.ph
Among the rumored comparisons circulating on social media
Photo credit: astig.ph

While this was something millions of people have been talking about in the Philippines, talks eventually died down after Telstra issued a statement that it was not going to start a telecoms business in the country and compete with the existing giants.

Among the fake Telstra statements circulating on social media Photo credit: astig.ph
Among the fake Telstra statements circulating on social media
Photo credit: astig.ph

But while this news disheartened a lot of Filipinos, there’s hope of better things to come! Just last Friday, July 8, Telstra announced that it was moving 326 call center jobs from Australia to the Philippines!

Of course, such move was something that would surely be welcome in the Philippines, a country now known to be one of the leading providers of business process outsourcing (BPO) talents in the world but it is not what majority of the locals would have wanted to happen.

Fake Telstra ad Photo credit: astig.ph
Fake Telstra ad
Photo credit: astig.ph

Still, considering that Telstra will now have a firsthand experience of the bad service of telecoms in the country, this could be the start of what Filipinos have all been waiting for!

Will Telstra become a strong competitor against the telecoms giants in the Philippines? We shall see in the coming months…