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19 August 2009

Telkom and CWU sign agreement

In concluding an agreement with the Communication Workers Union (CWU), Telkom has not only addressed the issue of annual general salary increases for its bargaining unit staff, but has also taken another major step towards addressing the issue of salary disparities that have resulted from historical issues.

The membership of CWU had embarked on industrial action from 3-14 August 2009. In the final settlement, Telkom and CWU agreed to a 7.5% general salary increase and a two-year moratorium on forced retrenchments. The parties also agreed to an accelerated process to address salary disparities and that all future increases will be performance based.

On average, this translates to an 11.22% increase for bargaining unit staff and all adjustments are effective from 1 August 2009.

‘With the support and approval of our Board, Telkom has systematically and proactively addressed the matter of salary disparities," said Telkom Group CEO, Reuben September.

He added: "We are extremely glad to have reached a negotiated settlement with the representatives of organised labour as Telkom places a high premium on the welfare and satisfaction of all our employees. Despite difficult current economic realities, Telkom has agreed to a two-year moratorium on forced retrenchments, thereby providing certainty and stability both for Telkom and its employees. I am satisfied that, together with organised labour, we have utilised the process of substantive negotiations to collaboratively address critical issues in the shortest possible timeframe within the context of Group affordability."

September emphasised that today's agreement further demonstrated that he could count on the support of all Telkom's employees as the Group implemented its new strategy under its new organisational structure.

"I have always maintained that Telkom's personnel provides us with the most solid foundation for refocusing our strategic imperatives in order to maintain our leadership position in South Africa while expanding geographically to become a fully-fledged Pan-African operator," concluded September.

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.