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30 November 2015

Telkom fibre put to the test in Guinness World Records™ attempt

Telkom will be putting its fibre technology to the test in the Telkom Unlimited Movie Marathon Guinness World Records™ attempt. Using Telkom’s Boltspeed fibre to stream over 122 hours of movies, selected participants will attempt to break the current world record for longest marathon watching films, which currently stands at 120 hours 23 minutes (about five days).

An accomplished endurance record breaker, Suresh Joachim, will fly in from Canada for the event to try to attempt to break the record. He will however be competing against ten local South Africans who will also be attempting to achieve the title.

“I am delighted that Telkom will be hosting this endurance challenge and I am looking forward to the opportunity to add this record to my list of 52 records that I currently hold. While I will be putting my endurance to the test I understand Telkom will be putting their fibre technology to the test as well, said Joachim.

“I have never been to South Africa and I am particularly excited about visiting the country and competing for the title with the local participants,” he added.

To attempt breaking the record over 80 movies must be streamed over Telkom’s Boltspeed fibre technology. An official Guinness World Records adjudicator will verify that all the requirements for the record breaking attempt have been met.

“Fibre technology is the perfect medium for streaming content and we are going to be showcasing this on a grand scale at the Telkom Unlimited Movie Marathon. Families attending the event will get an idea of the entertainment value that fibre can deliver to their homes,” said Telkom Chief Marketing Officer, Enzo Scarcella.

“We believe that the quality of our Boltspeed fibre is essential if breaking the Guinness World Records title is going to be attempted,” he added.

The Unlimited Movie Marathon is being held from 9 to 13 December at The Sheds @1Fox in Johannesburg and will be open to the public to enjoy the around the clock movie screening. Tickets can be purchased online at iTicket.co.za for R30 for full day access. All proceeds from this event will go to Lifeline. Lifeline is a proud network of telephone counselling centres and other services offering support to those experiencing emotional distress.

For more information on the Telkom Unlimited Movie Marathon, visit: http://www.telkom.co.za/movie-marathon/index.html.

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

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ABOUT TELKOM:

Telkom is a leading communications services provider in South Africa. We had consolidated operating revenue from continuing operations of R31.7 billion and profit after tax from continuing operations of R2,889 million for the year ended 31 March 2015. Total assets amounted to R42.0 billion and equity attributable to the owners of Telkom to R25.7 billion as of 31 March 2015. The group generated free cash flow of R3.9 billion for the year ended 31 March 2015.

As of 31 March 2015, we had approximately 3.4 million telephone access lines in service and 964,196 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.