"Telkom Plus is a one-stop-shop for subscribers to discover the range of digital services available on the Internet," says Gugu Mthembu, executive brand and product segment at Telkom. "[It is] designed to engage users and generate interest around VAS subscription services."

"This platform allows a niche group of content services providers — like apps, games and music streaming platform developers — to put their products on the portal for a broader reach and service to the people," adds Mthembu.

Telkom Plus features various improved additions, including device detection. According to Telkom, the platform is rendered according to the capabilities of a user's device. This ensures a consistent and improved user experience, even on legacy devices. Additionally, it features enrichment content such as games, sports, videos, lifestyle and social content.

"We had a look at what is already in the market and did our intensive research on the need for this platform, and the decision was taken to give customers an improved user experience. Our platform embodies our ethos and value proposition of always giving more for less," says Mthembu.

Telkom Plus is the default homepage for all customers who create a new data session on the mobile network and is zero-rated for data usage to further stimulate traffic. "In essence, this is a portal that is automatically triggered by the network when certain events occur that would normally result in a customer landing on a 'dead end' webpage — such as when a customer runs out of credit or depletes their data allocation," Mthembu says.

"Instead of ending the data session, the customer is presented with an engaging content portal with functionality the customer can access right away — improving the user experience and providing the operator with a powerful, high-traffic digital sales channel," concludes Mthembu. 

Telkom Plus launched on Monday, 9 December. Customers will be able to access the portal on a browser, USSD (*180*401#) and the Telkom App.

For more information, visit www.telkom.co.za. Alternatively, connect with them over Facebook or on Twitter.