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07 March 2016

Telkom Becomes First in Africa to Offer Direct Carrier Billing for Google Play Content Store

In a first for the continent, customers can now securely and conveniently purchase movies, TV shows and other video content direct from the Google Play Store using any Android device and charge it directly to their Telkom mobile bill or airtime.

Telkom today announced that the company now offers Direct Carrier Billing for content purchases on the Google Play store. Direct Carrier Billing is an integrated billing service for Android smartphone and tablet customers in South Africa.

The Google Play Store offers thousands of movies and TV shows for direct download onto any Android device. Telkom’s customers can pay for competitively priced movies, Apps and more from the Playstore by utilising Telkom prepaid or post-paid airtime as payment.

Customers can also make in-app purchases, such as additional content or new levels for a gaming app, without interruption to the app experience. This “frictionless” payment experience is emerging as the preferred model for payment in app stores, enabling more consumers to access paid content, without the need for credit/debit cards or to register personal details. Details of each transaction will be itemised on customers’ Telkom invoices.

“We are thrilled to be the first on the continent to introduce Direct Carrier Billing for Google Play Store content purchases,” said Enzo Scarcella, Chief Marketing Officer at Telkom. “This is another way that Telkom is providing customers with innovative technology to enhance their entertainment experience.”

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.