TELSTRA chief operating officer Kate McKenzie has announced her retirement from the beleaguered national carrier which has faced six months of crisis plagued by a series of network meltdowns.

Ms McKenzie, 55, joined Telstra in 2004 and took over as chief operating officer in October 2013.

Ms McKenzie was the face of Telstra during its string of network failures.

In an interview with News Corp Australia following the most recent network failure, Ms McKenzie expressed her regret that the Telstra network had continued to be plagued by problems.

“Sometimes you have these unique circumstances that you can’t plan for and therefore the focus is on recovery,” McKenzie says.

“We will keep on focusing on that and we will be working very hard to restore the confidence of any customer who might have lost that confidence.”

Telstra Chief Executive Officer Andrew Penn released a statement thanking Ms McKenzie, who has been part of Telstra’s leadership team since 2007.

“Kate has been a positive force for Telstra, supporting four Chief Executive Officers and working to build our technology and innovation capability. She has been a significant contributor to our customer-focused culture and a role model for women in the organisation. I have appreciated her support and counsel,” Mr Penn said.

Telstra group executive global enterprise and services Brendon Riley will act as interim COO while the carrier conducts a international search for a replacement.

Ms McKenzie’s retirement marks the second high-profile Telstra executive to leave in the past few months.

Telstra’s chief technology officer Vish Nandlall left the carrier in May amid allegations his resume contained false information.