Optus has long flagged plans to become a media company as well as a telco, with hopes a strong content offering will differentiate it from its peers. Mr Lew recently announced the telco's Optus Sports platform had re-secured exclusive Australian rights to the English Premier League, as well as 64 matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in June – with 39 of these games exclusive to the brand.

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An Optus spokeswoman said the company’s strategy was to create a “next-generation” telco in the form of a mobile-led, digital service provider using technology to deliver experiences and premium content to customers.

“Optus is making a step-change to the way we work, do business and fund future investments so we can continue to thrive in our increasingly competitive and disruptive market,” she said.

This meant having the “right skills and capabilities in place” to build a digital organisation, she said.

“Certain roles will be impacted either directly or indirectly because of these changes, including 400 roles which will be made redundant,” she said. “Our policy is always to speak with employees who may be impacted by these changes first, including discussing redeployment opportunities.”

The need to evolve as a telco has seen other incumbents face similar trials, with cost-cutting a priority for most major players.

Rival telco Telstra chief executive Andy Penn flagged in February "reducing and disappearing" jobs in parts of the business as the company redefined its role and moved more into technology. Mr Penn said these losses were likely to be in the traditional telco parts of the business, with new jobs to be created in cyber security and the Internet of Things.

At the time, Mr Penn said Telstra was "always sensitive to anything that we're doing that has an impact on jobs [...], we do need to increase the efficiency of the business, the productivity of the business, because ultimately that’s what’s going to make us successful".