The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has commissioned telecommunications giant Telkom to provide numerous voice and data services for the general election, Telkom chief sales and marketing officer Nombulelo Moholi, said on Wednesday — just a week before South Africans go to the polls.
Telkom has implemented a wide-area network to relay statistics from voting stations around the country to the IEC’s national results centre.
Telkom provided the “behind-the-scenes” IT infrastructure to the IEC in previous democratic elections in 1994 and in 1999. The IEC has more than 17 000 voting stations, a 7 000 increase in stations from 1999.
The company will also operate PABX business systems, ISDN lines, radio and television broadcasting links, as well as voice services, for the national results centre and nine other provincial centres.
“Telkom has also upgraded the IEC’s disaster recovery platform to serve the IEC’s additional load requirements over the elections. While the logistics involved in installing a multitude of different communications solutions at locations around the country may appear daunting, Telkom has both the expertise and technology to ensure that our service meets and exceeds expectations,” Moholi said.
The partially privatised company was the first operator in the world to introduce fixed-line prepaid services to its customers.
In addition, Telkom on Wednesday launched its campaign to celebrate 10 years of democracy in South Africa with the launch of two commemorative R20 phone cards that crystallise the milestones achieved in South Africa over the past 10 years.
“Phone cards have a special place in our 10 years of democracy. They have been used to celebrate many of the milestones that have occurred on the 10-year journey,” Moholi said.
Two million cards have been issued to mark the campaign. More than a quarter of a million special cards were also issued during the Rugby World Cup in 1995. Other commemorative cards included the Sydney Olympics Games, former president Nelson Mandela’s 80th birthday and the Soccer Charity Cup in 2001.
In celebration of the decade of democracy, the company will apply its CallMore or special discounted call rates on from the eve of Freedom Day until the morning of April 28. This discounted peak rate does not apply for calls to mobile and international calls.
“Telkom is proud to be associated with South Africa’s maturing democracy. Telkom itself has transformed itself from an ordinary phone company into a world-class provider of integrated communications solutions. This did not happen overnight, and neither are the challenges facing South Africa,” Moholi said. — I-Net Bridge