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08 November 2013

Telkom amends rules of Open Innovation Mega Challenge

Telkom has revised the rules of the Open Innovation Mega Challenge to ensure that participating innovators and the company are well protected with regard to the ownership of intellectual property rights.

Initially the rules of competition were designed to mitigate against any possible litigation matters that may arise from non-winning entrants pursuing compensation for products that may already exist or in development in the Company.

To accommodate for this the rule pertaining to the ceding of the IP rights was designed to prevent a situation where a person/group/organisation submits an idea that Telkom already may have thought of, claims ownership, and then expects to be paid for it.

The innovation industry has voiced concerns around this rule and Telkom has since consulted with industry experts to develop a more amenable approach to the matter.

As such clause 15 in the competition rules have been amended as follows:

15. You acknowledge that Telkom may already have an existing or be independently working on the same technology/ idea as covered by your submission, and that your submission may not be new or novated. Under no circumstances shall the Participants acquire any right in and to Telkom's intellectual property or goodwill thereof.

15.1 The Participant/s agree that it/they will not at any time either during or after the term of this Competition –

15.1.1 put in issue the validity of Telkom's intellectual property or itself/themselves claim any rights to Telkom's intellectual property or oppose any application for the registration or extension of any registration; or

15.1.2 do anything which in the reasonable opinion of Telkom might tend to disparage Telkom's intellectual property or injure Telkom's rights therein.

15.2 The Competition platform is a non-confidential platform and therefore without any obligation and liability by Telkom, it is the responsibility of each participant to protect (if any) its own intellectual property prior, during and after the Competition.

Telkom believes that this amendment affords the required legal protection to all concerned parties and encourages innovators to put forward their submission as the competition draws to a close on 30 November 2013.

Access to the new rules:http://response.innovationsummit.co.za

For further enquiries, please contact:

Pynee Chetty

Senior Specialist: Media Relations

Group Communication

Tel:+27 12 642 1716

Mobile: +27 81 389 7874

Email: chettpr2@telkom.co.za

OR

Leigh-Ann Francis

Specialist: Media Relations

Group Communication

Tel: +27 12 642 1728

Mobile: +27 81 391 4780

Email: francilm@telkom.co.za

Telkom Park, The Apex

92 Oak Avenue

Technopark

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ABOUT TELKOM:

Telkom is a leading communications services provider in South Africa. We had consolidated operating revenue of R16.8 billion and normalised profit after tax of R1, 683 million for the period ended 30 September 2015. Total assets amounted to R41.9 billion and equity attributable to the owners of Telkom to R23.5 billion as of 30 September 2015. The group generated normalised free cash flow of R1.4 billion for the period ended 30 September 2015.

As of 30 September 2015, we had approximately 3.3 million telephone access lines in service and 1,030,441 ports connected via MSAN access. We offer business, residential and payphone customers a wide range of services and products, including:

  • fixed-line retail voice services using PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) lines, including ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) lines, and the sale of subscription based value-added voice services and calling plans;
  • fixed-line customer premises equipment rental and sales services both voice and data needs and these include PABX, Computers, Routers, Modems, Telephone handsets and other ancillary equipment;
  • interconnection services, including terminating and transiting traffic from South African mobile operators, as well as from international operators and transiting traffic from mobile to international destinations;
  • fixed-line data services, including domestic and international data transmission services, such as point-to-point leased lines, ADSL (Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line) services, packet-based services, managed data networking services and internet access and related information technology services;
  • Data Centre Operations includes e-commerce, application service provider, hosting, data storage, e-mail and security services;
  • W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), a 3G next generation network, including fixed voice services, data services and nomadic voice services;
  • mobile communication services, including voice services, data services and handset sales through our mobile navbar-brand called Telkom Mobile;
  •  information and communication services including cloud services, infrastructure services, workspace services, global service integration management and hardware and network equipment sales locally, in seven African countries, the UK and Dubai through Business Connexion Group; and
  • other services including directory services, through Trudon (Pty) Ltd, wireless data services, through Swiftnet (Pty) Ltd.

Convergence is one of our key strategic initiatives in building a sustainable future for Telkom.  We will lead the provision of converged services in South Africa in support of our mission statement: Seamlessly connecting people to a better life.