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16 February 2010

Telkom to pass through 100% interconnect rate reduction to customers

Following notification from mobile cellular operators Vodacom and MTN in respect of a reduction of their Mobile Termination Rates (MTRs) as from 1 March 2010, Telkom has decided to give a 100% pass-through of this reduction to the Company’s retail customers for fixed-to-mobile calls.

This will see Telkom dropping its peak rate for fixed-to-mobile calls from 1 March 2010 by the full 36c resulting in Telkom customers now paying R1.475 per minute for conventional calls as opposed to R1.886 in 2009 (VAT inclusive rates).

"This will translate to a reduction of approximately 22% in fixed-to-mobile call charges for customers," said Nombulelo Moholi, MD for Telkom South Africa.

She added: "We have consistently supported affordable telecommunications access in the country. Therefore, although not obliged to do so, Telkom has decided on a 100% pass-through to our retail customers for fixed-to-mobile calls."

Telkom has filed its new fixed-to-mobile retail rates with the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA).

However, Telkom is still awaiting notification from Cell C to finalise an amendment to the Cell C Interconnection Agreement.

Moholi emphasised that Telkom’s rates was subject to the finalisation of the Interconnection Agreements and ICASA’s approval of Telkom’s new fixed-to-mobile rate filing.

MTRs refer to the fee that one network charges another for receiving and terminating calls on its network.

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.