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19 March 2013

Telkom Mobile launches as high-quality network

Big leap forward for convergence strategy

CENTURION, 19 March 2013 – Telkom today announced the launch of Telkom Mobile, a high-quality network offering great value to data-hungry consumers and those who make high volumes of voice calls.

The new Telkom Mobile is based on an existing robust and growing network that will benefit from continuing infrastructure investment.

Mr Attila Vitai, Managing Director of Telkom Mobile, told a media briefing today that Telkom Mobile offers simpler, faster and more affordable converged connectivity for both data and voice customers. He says the new navbar-brand is positioned to take advantage of changes in consumer knowledge, expectations and behaviour.

“Pretty much everyone has at least one mobile device and most use them for more than basic calls and messaging. There is a significant core group of consumers who expect to be able to do more with their devices in their own time and on their own terms. They know a lot about mobile products and are getting better at understanding complex deals and associated terms and conditions. With this increasing savvy they want simplicity and the ease of selection and use of their mobile products,” says Vitai.

“Telkom Mobile is a response to these consumer requirements and to opportunities that a faster, top quality network offers for launching products that are attractive to heavy and high-end users.”

Manelisa Mavuso, Telkom’s Managing Director of Consumer and Retail Services, says Telkom Mobile is an essential component of Telkom’s group-wide convergence strategy.

“When we say that Telkom’s mission is to seamlessly connect people to a better world, the key practical implication is that we are working for a converged future where there is less focus on particular technology and whether it is fixed or mobile. Our strategy focuses on helping consumers, business and other sectors of society stay connected in order to achieve great things and live better lives,” says Mavuso.

“For us the launch of Telkom Mobile is a clear milestone in the implementation of our plans to drive greater revenue and to meet business plan targets as a converged entity,” he says.

Vitai says Telkom Mobile is the only mobile network designed and engineered from scratch to deliver a superior quality voice service and better data speeds and access.

He emphasises that 8.ta will continue to be the navbar-brand name for a core set of products within Telkom Mobile, which is a business unit within Telkom Group. He says 8.ta has developed a strong and loyal following in key parts of the market and will therefore remain as an important product for those customers.

Mavuso says the decision to launch Telkom Mobile was informed by a great deal of investigation. Considerations included market dynamics, the benefits of leveraging off the strong Telkom navbar-brand heritage and its unsurpassed infrastructure. He believes Telkom Mobile will position Telkom uniquely in the convergence arena.

Vitai says the costs of introducing Telkom Mobile are modest with existing budget allocations being used to establish the business as the leading mobile navbar-brand.

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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.