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22 November 2015

Telkom Announces Partnership with Olympic Sprinter Usain Bolt

Telkom today announced that that it has teamed up with Olympic sprinter, Usain Bolt in a media partnership to promote fibre technology. Bolt is regarded as the fastest person ever and the first man to hold both the 100 metres and 200 metres world records. He is the reigning Olympic champion in these events and the first man to win six gold medals in sprinting.

This alliance is a first of its kind between a South African telecommunications company and an international sprint star.  Telkom is currently rolling out an extensive network of fibre technology as part of its campaign to provide all South Africans with broadband technology.

Telkom filmed the superstar athlete in his home country of Jamaica last weekend and, during that filming, Bolt thanked his many South African fans for their ongoing support. The video link to that message can he found here.

Telkom’s Chief Marketing Officer, Enzo Scarcella, said the association with Bolt helped drive the message of Telkom’s commitment to provide South African’s with the most advanced broadband technology available. “We believe that Bolt, as the fastest person in the world, will assist us in creating awareness of the speed, consistency and reliability that fibre technology offers.”

Telkom is committed to reaching one million homes with fibre by 2018 to expand, what is already the largest fibre network in the country.

Fibre to the home currently allows for download speeds of up to 100Mbps, allowing users to download a standard definition 4.7GB video in under seven minutes. An entire music album can be downloaded in eight seconds.

Fibre optic cables transmit light and is thus not affected by interference from electromagnetic noise such as radios, motors, power lines, electric fences or other cables. Consequently, fibre broadband offers greater reliability and stability.

To watch Telkom’s launch video – click here.

To watch Usain Bolt send good wishes to his South African Fans – click here.

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

Telkom Park, The Apex

92 Oak Avenue

Technopark

Highveld

Centurion

ABOUT TELKOM:

Telkom is a leading communications services provider in South Africa. We had consolidated operating revenue from continuing operations of R31.7 billion and profit after tax from continuing operations of R2,889 million for the year ended 31 March 2015. Total assets amounted to R42.0 billion and equity attributable to the owners of Telkom to R25.7 billion as of 31 March 2015. The group generated free cash flow of R3.9 billion for the year ended 31 March 2015.

As of 31 March 2015, we had approximately 3.4 million telephone access lines in service and 964,196 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.