Telkom Business, Damelin in groundbreaking mobile deal

Issued by Telkom Business

Johannesburg, 14 Nov 2013

Telkom Business has recently partnered with South Africa's largest private education provider, Damelin, in a groundbreaking mobile deal that aims to help students stay connected and in touch. The promotion will see 40 000 SIM cards handed to students for free, over a three-month period. This is part of a broader collaboration with South Africa's education sector through a strategic initiative known as Project Athena.

"We can safely say that the most effective way to communicate with the Millennial Generation is through their cellphones, because that is how they connect," says Megan Nicholas, Managing Executive of Mobile Solutions at Telkom Business.

"Along with attracting prospective students to our various campuses," explains Nolan Charles, Group Chief Commercial Officer at Damelin, "we will also be providing a viable communication platform to stay in touch with students beyond their initial visit. Enclosed as part of the package, all for free to the end-user, is a SIM card, CLI, connection and WiFi. This will allow for easy communication on things like registration dates and related offers, as well as other ongoing campaigns.

According to Nicholas, this approach is perfectly aligned to Telkom Business's positioning as a solution provider and an enabler of communication. "We evaluated Damelin's business need, understood their fundamental requirement, and devised a solution that would facilitate a positive end result - that is connecting with the students."

The next phase of the agreement will see free WiFi being rolled out to designated Damelin sites. "Here students can take advantage of Internet services, including video and audio streaming, Web site browsing and social networking."

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Telkom

Telkom is a leading communications services provider in South Africa and on the African continent. It had consolidated operating revenue of R32.5 billion and profit after tax of R501 million for the year ended 31 March 2013, excluding a once-off impairment charge. Total assets amounted to R41.6 billion and equity attributable to the owners of Telkom to R17.9 billion as of 31 March 2013. The group generated free cash flow of R2.1 billion for the year ended 31 March 2013.

As of 31 March 2013, the company had approximately 3.8 million telephone access lines in service and 73 400 ports connected via MSAN access. Telkom 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 include 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 its mobile brand called Telkom Mobile; and
* Other services, including directory services, through Trudon, wireless data services, through Swiftnet, and Internet services outside South Africa, through the iWayAfrica Group.

Convergence is one of Telkom's key strategic initiatives in building a sustainable future for the company. It will lead the provision of converged services in South Africa in support of its mission statement: seamlessly connecting people to a better life.

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