Telstra has told nearly 700 of its technical staff and contractors in Australia that their jobs will be shifted overseas.

The company has confirmed it will cut 670 jobs in Australia, in areas including cloud service delivery and network services will be relocated to Asia over the next 12 months.

Telstra says the relocations are being made to service its growing business in the region.

Community and Public Sector Union national president Michael Tull said staff were shocked and saddened by the news.

“Telstra is moving into a very worrying phase of offshoring,” he said.

“The affected area is a very profitable and growing part of the business so it’s shocking to see that Telstra is prepared to outsource its future.

“It’s bad news for workers, and bad news for the economy as we offshore our capacity for future innovation.”