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Telkom scoops broadband awards

The company was awarded "best fixed broadband service provider in SA" at the annual MyBroadband Conference.

By Telkom
Pretoria, 10 Oct 2013

Telkom was today awarded "best fixed broadband service provider in SA" and "best mobile broadband operator in SA" at the annual MyBroadband Conference.

This marks the third consecutive year that Telkom receives the award for best fixed broadband service provider in SA.

On receiving this award, Telkom Chief Operating Officer, Dr Brian Armstrong, said: "We are delighted to see that we are being recognised. This is evidence that our hard work in turning the business around is visible and our customers are beginning to acknowledge and appreciate it.

"Our determined efforts towards accelerating our broadband roadmap, coupled with the commercial launch of up to 40Mbps offers this year, has cemented our relevance in this industry," he added.

Telkom also received the award for best mobile broadband operator for the second consecutive year. Telkom Mobile Senior Managing Executive, Amith Maharaj, was present to receive the award and said: "The Telkom Mobile team has worked hard over the past year to deliver on these innovations and it is pleasing to see that customers are enjoying the experience.

"Our efforts have seen a determined roll-out of our LTE capability. In addition, our WiFi network is now the biggest in the country and this is just the beginning," concluded Maharaj.

Telkom LTE fast facts

Long-term evolution (LTE) is the latest generation of mobile network providing super-fast 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.

1. Telkom Mobile is rolling out LTE on the 2300 MHz frequency band, which means better connectivity and greater speeds.

2. LTE is typically implemented on 2 x 10MHz (Frequency Division Duplexing - FDD) or 1 x 20MHz (Time Division Duplexing - TDD). Telkom LTE is implemented based on TDD commonly known as TD LTE and will be to support 3 x 20MHz carriers (60MHz). FDD implementations utilise two separate fixed equal channel spacing for Uplink (UL) and Downlink (DL) respectively while TDD implementations utilises a single configurable channel spacing for UL and DL shared in time.

3. Telkom LTE is currently implemented in a 75% DL and 25% UL asymmetrical split. This split offers the most efficient support to deliver data services over the air.

4. Telkom has LTE coverage in Pretoria, Centurion, Sandton, Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town.

5. Telkom LTE has been commercially available since 1 May 2013.

6. Users will need an LTE capable device that is either single mode or multi-mode capable of supporting the 2300MHz frequency band.

7. Telkom offers a range of devices that enable multiple device connectivity at home and mobility for the consumer on the move, which also supports fallback to HSPA+ in areas where LTE coverage may not be available.

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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, Telkom 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 IT 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 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.