Telstra to release Facebook app

Australian carrier Telstra has increased online sales from 10% to 28% with the carrier now looking to grow its online business even further. The news comes as Telstra gets set to unveil a Facebook app that will allow customers to log on to their Telstra accounts, Smarthouse reports.

Digital director Gerd Schenkel claims that the gain in sales through online channels vindicated the company's decision to follow a strategy perfected by the banks, which have lowered costs by increasing online transactions and improving customer service.

Speaking to the Australian newspaper, Schenkel said Telstra was now looking to increase its online business to 35% in 2012 as opposed to 2013.

According to Telecom Paper, the push to improve Telstra's online service transactions is not only reaping positive results in sales, with the operator adding another million mobile customers in the six months to December, but it is also helping the company to strip costs from its business.

This week, Telstra will unveil its latest foray into the social media world when it launches a Facebook customer service app, The Australian notes.

It quotes Schenkel as saying: "Facebook is the single biggest mass social platform with more than 11 million regular users in Australia, which is pretty much every adult who accesses the Internet. People spending time on Facebook means that is the place where they want to interact with service providers like us."