Major Telstra Offensive In 100 New Locations

They were once the epitome of bad customer service.But now Telstra is turning itself around and seeking to expand its phone empire further with the announcement that it will open in 30 new locations nationwide. 

“Our existing stores welcome around 30 million customer visits each year, and this initiative means our retail outlets will now appear in even more locations, making it easier and more convenient for customers to interact with us,” David Thodey, Telstra CEO said.

The stores will be smaller and tailored to suit local markets.

Telstra have already invested $1bn in Project New – their major drive to improve consumer service and turn around the perceptions of the communications giant – and now predict 30 percent of its interaction with customer will be done online by 2013. 

Announcing its latest venture, its new online service unit will allow users to order new services and  change the plans from their mobile or PC. 

“Telstra’s new online customer service unit will support our growing customer base, providing customers with the option of faster and more convenient ways of interacting with the company, including through social media.”

The new unit would be headed by Gerd Schenkel, who joined Telstra from his role as general manager of UBank, reporting to Head of Consumer & Country Wide, Gordon Ballantyne. 

This latest expansion comes as the battle between the Big 3 heats up.

Telstra already said earlier this month it has signed on have signed nearly one million new mobile customers and 139,000 new retail broadband customers last year. 

The No. 2 Telco in Australia, Optus, said it acquired 88,000 new customers in the last quarter of 2010 – bringing its total base to almost 9 million.

Vodafone are to announce their financial results next Friday.