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04 March 2014

Telkom Mobile and BlackBerry announce integrated carrier billing for BlackBerry smartphone customers

Customers can now securely and conveniently purchase apps on BlackBerry World and charge it directly to their mobile Telkom Mobile bill or airtime
 

Pretoria, South Africa – Telkom Mobile, the mobile division of telecommunications company Telkom (JSE: TKG), and BlackBerry® (NASDAQ: BBRY; TSX:BB) today announced an integrated carrier billing service for BlackBerry® smartphone customers in South Africa.

The service is made possible through Telkom Mobile’s newly developed Event Billing service and will enable Telkom Mobile customers to purchase applications on the BlackBerry® World™ storefront and charge it directly to their mobile phone bill or airtime. Customers can also make in-app purchases, such as additional content or new levels for a gaming app, without interruption to the app experience.

To make secure purchases and payments on BlackBerry World, customers will be required to enter their BlackBerry® ID username and password. BlackBerry ID provides customers with a secure and device-independent user identification to access apps and services on BlackBerry World.

The carrier billing purchase experience includes a double opt-in process to ensure that customers are aware that they are purchasing an app or a game and not surprised when their account is billed for the purchase. Details of each transaction will be itemised on customers’ invoices. Customers can also call Telkom Mobile Customer Care to further validate purchases.

“We are thrilled to introduce Carrier Billing with BlackBerry as our first partner,” said Vishal Phlad, Executive Technical Product Development at Telkom Mobile. “By providing a facility for BlackBerry smartphone users to pay for apps and content using their airtime, or by adding purchases to their account, we make it more convenient for them to transact.”

Yudi Moodley, Managing Director for Africa at BlackBerry said, “We are delighted to expand our relationship with Telkom Mobile with the launch of integrated billing. Telkom Mobile’s integrated carrier billing for BlackBerry smartphones will make it easier than ever for South African customers to get apps and games on BlackBerry World. It is a simple, secure and convenient way for our customers to get the most from their BlackBerry smartphones.”

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 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.