Telkom appoints new head of communications

By Phumeza Tontsi for Telkom Business
Johannesburg, 27 Aug 2014

Telkom today announced the appointment of Jacqui O'Sullivan as Managing Executive: Group Communication and Public Relations. O'Sullivan, who has extensive experience in media and corporate communication, will join the Telkom team on 15 September 2014.

O'Sullivan is joining Telkom from Sasol, where she was the Vice President: Group Corporate Branding and Communication. She also fulfilled an executive communication role at Motorola for the Middle East and Africa and was the Head of Communication and Corporate Social Investment at South African Airways. O'Sullivan started her career as a journalist at the Sunday Independent and Saturday Star.

"Jacqui's previous experience and track record in communications makes her a clear fit for Telkom as we move to reposition ourselves as the country's leading ICT provider," said Telkom Chief Marketing Officer Enzo Scarcella. "She will be instrumental in guiding how we communicate with key stakeholders and customers."

"This is a great opportunity to work for a company at the forefront of South Africa's technological developments and I'm looking forward to joining the team," says O'Sullivan.

O'Sullivan holds a BA in English and Politics from the University of Stellenbosch.

Telkom

Telkom SA ("Telkom") is a full-service telecommunications provider for South Africa. The Company offers wholesale, business, residential and payphone customers a wide range of voice and data services and products, in support of the company's mission statement - seamlessly connecting people to a better life. As of 31 March 2014, Telkom had approximately 3.6 million telephone access lines in service and 475 144 ports connected via MSAN access.

The company had consolidated operating revenue of R32.5 billion and profit after tax of R1 577 million for the year ended 31 March 2014, excluding the net curtailment gain. Total assets amounted to R39.4 billion and equity attributable to the owners of Telkom to R22.8 billion as of 31 March 2014. The group generated normalised free cash flow of R1.2 billion for the year ended 31 March 2014.

The company offers 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 brand called Telkom Mobile;
* Telkom Mobile is continuously expanding its long term evolution (LTE) coverage. It is the Company's latest generation of mobile network technology that provides superfast mobile wireless broadband with low latency (or buffering) that gives users an unsurpassed experience for their everyday data connectivity needs. It is a step up from 3G offering up to 90Mbps download speed and up to 25Mbps upload speeds - approximately three to four times faster than current 3G speeds. It is an ideal option for use in areas where there is no ADSL infrastructure; and
* Convergence is one of our key strategic initiatives in building a sustainable future for Telkom, which will lead the provision of converged services in South Africa in support of our mission statement: Seamlessly connecting people to a better life.

The Telkom Group consists of Telkom as well as two main subsidiaries, namely Trudon and Swiftnet. Trudon provides several directory service offerings off both physical and electronic platforms and Swiftnet provides a suite of services including traditional connectivity services for point-of sale, managed SIM services and customised wireless and wired virtual private network services.

Telkom is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and has a market capitalisation of approximately R17.5 billion (as at 31 March 2014).

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