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Telkom Business enables voice costs reduction for SMEs - a first in SA

Telkom Business enables voice costs reduction for SMEs - a first in SA

Issued by Telkom Business

Pretoria, 25 Jul 2013

"The Convergence SingleRate offering is the first of its kind in the market today. At an out-of-bundle rate of 79c per minute to all networks at any time, it is the most cost-effective call rate available today. This is another unique solution from Telkom Business, aimed at serving the needs of SME customers," Jan Pieterse, Executive at Telkom Business Product House, said at the launch of the new offering today.

Telkom, through Telkom Business, has positioned itself as the only operator that is best placed to offer true convergence, citing its combination of fixed, data, cloud, IT and mobile capabilities as core components to make it a market leader in this area.

"Many of our SME customers see this as a big business concept that doesn't really apply to them," says Pieterse. "That is partly why it was critical for us to develop a product offering specifically for that market, something that brings the concept of convergence to life, something that enables productivity, convenience and cost-effectiveness."

According to Pieterse, Convergence SingleRate brings together the best of fixed and mobile. "A BizTalk contract (fixed plan) available from R299 per month gives users a 79c out-of-bundle rate from their landline to all local networks all the time, including line rental and up to 700 free minutes. By adding another R49 per month, the same 79c out-of-bundle rate applies from a Telkom Mobile phone to any network." All of this is based on pure per-second billing, meaning customers pay for the actual time they are on the phone.

Says Pieterse: "Just by applying per-second billing, customers can save up to 35% on the out-of-bundle usage." Therein lies the power and true benefit of convergence, he explains. "Customers get the most out of different platforms, giving them a converged solution that is also cost-effective."

See also

Telkom Business invites SMEs to join the journey to convergence

Telkom Business can claim market leadership in the area of convergence because it is the only telco that has complete technology capabilities for fixed, data, IT, cloud and mobile. "We are more than just a landline operator," says Pieterse. "Customers can buy these as standalone solutions, or they can choose tailor-made packages that suit their business needs."

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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, it had approximately 3.8 million telephone access lines in service and 73 400 ports connected via MSAN access. It 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 business. 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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