Company: Telkom
Country: South Africa
Sector: Telecommunications
CEO: Serame Taukobong (Group Chief Executive Officer)
Website: https://group.telkom.co.za
Careers Page: Not publicly listed
LinkedIn: Not publicly listed
Email: Not publicly listed
Headquarters: Centurion, Gauteng, South Africa
Founded: 1991 (as Telkom SA, from the former Department of Posts and Telecommunications dating to 1910)
Valuation/Revenue: $2,949.0m revenue; $809.8m market value (African Business Top 250, 2025)
Telkom is South Africa’s historic fixed-line and broadband operator, now also a major mobile network provider, offering fixed and mobile connectivity, fibre, managed IT and cloud services to consumers and businesses in over 38 African countries through subsidiaries. It is listed on the JSE and remains partly state-owned.
What Does Telkom Do?
Telkom operates across several divisions: Openserve, its wholesale fixed-line and fibre infrastructure arm; Telkom Mobile, its mobile network business competing with Vodacom and MTN; Telkom Business, serving enterprise and government clients with connectivity, cloud and managed IT services; and BCX, its IT services subsidiary. The group has transformed itself over the past decade from a legacy fixed-line incumbent into a converged operator with a growing mobile subscriber base, while continuing to roll out fibre-to-the-home infrastructure across South African metros.
How Big Is Telkom?
African Business magazine’s 2025 Top 250 ranking placed Telkom’s revenue at roughly $2.95 billion, with a market value of about $809.8 million, ranking it 56th among Africa’s largest companies. Separately, Telkom reported a swing from a large loss (a roughly R9.97 billion loss in 2023) to a R1.88 billion profit in 2024, with total assets exceeding R61 billion and a market capitalisation of around R15.3 billion as of 2024. The company employs roughly 10,000 people directly.
Is Telkom Still State-Owned?
Partially. The South African government’s direct and indirect shareholding in Telkom has been reduced over time through market sales, standing at around 40.5% as of 2024, with the Government Employees Pension Fund (PIC-managed) holding a further stake of roughly 15.9%. This makes the state and state-linked pension fund collectively influential shareholders, even though Telkom operates and reports as a JSE-listed commercial entity with private-sector governance and disclosure standards.
Who Is the CEO of Telkom?
Serame Taukobong serves as Telkom’s Group Chief Executive Officer, having been appointed CEO-designate before formally taking the role, after rising through Telkom’s senior leadership ranks. He leads the group’s strategy of expanding mobile and fibre while managing the wind-down of legacy copper fixed-line services.
Where Is Telkom Headquartered?
Telkom’s head office is in Centurion, Gauteng, in South Africa’s Johannesburg-Pretoria metropolitan corridor.
How Do I Apply for a Job at Telkom?
Telkom lists vacancies through its corporate governance and careers pages linked from its group website, and as a large telecoms employer it regularly advertises roles spanning network engineering, IT, retail and customer service across South Africa.
How Does Telkom Compare to Its Competitors?
Telkom’s main rivals are Vodacom and MTN in mobile, and a growing field of independent fibre and internet service providers such as Afrihost in fixed broadband. Telkom has historically been the smallest of South Africa’s “big three” mobile operators by subscriber share but has used aggressive data pricing and its fixed/fibre heritage to compete, while its Openserve unit supplies wholesale fibre capacity to many rival ISPs.
What Has Telkom Been in the News For Recently?
Telkom’s recent narrative has centred on its turnaround from heavy losses to renewed profitability, continued reduction of the government’s shareholding, and ongoing competitive and regulatory battles in South African telecoms, including spectrum allocation and infrastructure-sharing arrangements. The company has also faced questions common to the sector around load-shedding resilience, cybersecurity and the economics of continued fibre rollout amid intense price competition.
How Big Is Telkom’s Retail and Business Footprint?
Telkom’s Openserve division supplies wholesale fibre and fixed infrastructure not only to Telkom’s own retail brand but to numerous independent internet service providers across South Africa, making it a critical piece of the country’s broadband backbone. Telkom Business and its BCX subsidiary serve large corporate and government clients with managed connectivity, cloud and IT services, a segment the group has prioritised as a higher-margin complement to increasingly commoditised consumer mobile and fixed pricing. The group’s roughly 10,000-strong workforce spans network engineering, retail, enterprise sales and corporate functions across South Africa.
How Old Is Telkom?
Telkom’s roots trace back to 1910, when telecommunications were run as a government department (the Department of Posts and Telegraphs). It was corporatised as Telkom SA in 1991 ahead of a partial privatisation and eventual JSE listing in 2003, making it more than a century old in terms of its origins as South Africa’s national telecom infrastructure provider, even though the modern listed company is a few decades old.
Links
Website: https://group.telkom.co.za
Careers Page: Not found
LinkedIn: Not found
Email: Not publicly listed
FAQ
Is Telkom still government-owned? The South African government and a state pension fund together hold a large minority stake (roughly 40.5% plus 15.9%), but Telkom operates as a JSE-listed commercial company.
Who is the CEO of Telkom? Serame Taukobong.
Where is Telkom headquartered? Centurion, Gauteng, South Africa.
Is Telkom publicly traded? Yes, on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
How many people does Telkom employ? Around 10,000, according to recent company disclosures.
Who are Telkom’s main competitors? Vodacom and MTN in mobile, and various independent fibre/ISP providers.