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07 December 2015

GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ contestants gear up for Telkom Unlimited Movie Marathon

Telkom’s 11 contestants are making final preparations today before they attempt to beat the clock – and each other – to set a new record, certified by Guinness World Records, for the longest concurrent time spent watching movies. The current record stands at 120 hours 23 minutes, and the 11 contestants will attempt to spend over 122 hours watching movies delivered via Telkom’s Boltspeed fibre.

“This is first time the record for the most time spent consecutively watching movies has been attempted via streaming. We’re excited to be able to make this technology available for a potentially life-changing event for our contestants,” said Jacqui O’Sullivan, Managing Executive for Group Communication and Public Relations at Telkom.

Suresh Joachim, an international endurance competitor who holds multiple titles, arrived in South Africa on Monday morning in order to compete against the ten local South Africans at 3pm on Tuesday when the marathon begins. The event, powered by Telkom’s BOLTSPEED fibre, will be open to the public from 8am on Wednesday until 4pm on Sunday, when the marathon ends.

The marathon is a physically gruelling event as participants are allowed only a ten minute break between movies (which must be at least 90 minutes) in which to rest, sleep or visit the bathroom. During the movie, they are not allowed to glance away from the screen for more than a few seconds at a time.

The contestants have been advised not to consume drinks containing caffeine, as this would affect their heart rates. As a result of sleep deprivation during the event, participants are likely to experience an increase in blood pressure, mood swings, nausea and vomiting. Existing mental health issues may be exacerbated.

Paramedics will be on standby to check participants’ vital signs and an official Guinness World Records adjudicator will verify that all the requirements for the record breaking attempt have been met.

The Telkom Unlimited Movie Marathon takes place at the Sheds in downtown Johannesburg. Visitors to the event will be able to watch movies for as long as they want, for only R30 a day. All proceeds will go towards LifeLine, which provides free counselling services across South Africa. Visit www.itickets.co.za to buy tickets or http://www.telkom.co.za/movie-marathon/index.html for more information.

  • The contestants are:
  • Suresh Joachim (Canada)
  • Sheetal Vallabh (South Africa)
  • David Erasmus (South Africa)
  • Tibor Donatus Kurucz (South Africa)
  • Thulisile Madyo (South Africa)
  • Tiberius TJo (South Africa)
  • Delon Munian (South Africa)
  • Aqeel Dockrat (South Africa)
  • Buhlebethu Hlatshwayo (South Africa)
  • Lionel Havenga (South Africa)
  • Clarissa Schoeman (South Africa)

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.