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24 March 2014

EASSy improves cable efficiency

Telkom today announced that it is an active participant in the latest upgrades to one of the most modern cable systems serving Africa, East African Submarine System the (EASSy).

The EASSy consortium recently announced that they will soon be deploying the latest 100 gigabit-per-second technology to enable an ultimate carry capacity in excess of 10Tbit/s. This cable system is implemented in a protected ring configuration linking eight countries on the East Coast of Africa from Sudan to South Africa.

The global demand for access to, and utilisation of capacity on the EASSy cable system has increased since the inauguration of the system in 2010.

Mr Casper K Chihaka, the Managing Executive for Telkom Wholesale says, “Telkom embraces this innovation and progress by supporting this EASSy upgrade for an additional 400Gbps capacity. This will ensure an enrichment of the high-speed and seamless connectivity that is experienced by our valued customers.”

“At Telkom Wholesale we understand that customers seek cost-effective facilities aimed at boosting revenues and improving efficiencies and, as such, we actively drive and participate in submarine cable upgrades to enable increased capacity and improved affordability. Through this latest upgrade the EASSy capacity that is held by Telkom will be increased threefold,” continued Chihaka.

Telkom’s proven track record in managing complete submarine cable environments gives the Company the competitive edge in managing end-to-end ICT requirements. Telkom’s Wholesale division is intent in offering its customers affordable and cutting-edge technology solutions, thereby enabling further innovation in the retail products that are ultimately shaped for the South African business and residential market.

Telkom Wholesale is South Africa's leading provider of ICT wholesale facilities, services and solutions.

“We have ownership in EASSy, WACS, EIG, S3WS, SMW3 and the Columbus-3 cable systems. Through the combination of our world-class infrastructure and network and our expertise and commitment, we are well-positioned to offer tailor-made communication solutions that suit the specific needs of our customers,” concluded Chihaka.

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.