The telecommunications giant and the South African public broadcaster will use their infrastructure jointly to bring the SABC's content to South African viewers on mobile devices such as laptops, tablets and cellphones.
Telkom will also throw its weight and money behind the SABC to try and acquire expensive sport broadcasting rights in conjunction with the public broadcaster. It's Telkom's first new foray into the TV and video content acquisition field since the massive, eventual non-starter which was Telkom Media - a failed attempt to start a satellite pay-TV service.
Under the new deal Telkom will also "enhance" the SABC's current technology infrastructure. In terms of the multimillion rand agreement Telkom will install fibre infrastructure and services at the SABC's bureaus in all provinces across South Africa and put Telkom lines in all offices.
"We will start to explore doing some things jointly in sports," said Sipho Maseko, Telkom's group CEO, "even acquiring sporting rights together".
"It begins to signals a way in which we will use our infrastructure to get SABC content onto people's devices - wherever they might be," said Sipho Maseko.
"It's a huge amount we're going to invest," said Hlaudi Motsoeneng, the SABC's famously matricless acting chief operating officer (COO). "We're going to invest airtime on their site. Both parties will benefit."
