The total contract is worth more than US$15 million, with Gilat acting as prime contractor in a turnkey project. Most of the delivery is expected during 1998.

"In 1996 the telephony market segment accounted for 3 percent of total Company revenues. In 1997, this segment grew to 13 percent," remarked Gilat President and Chief Operating Officer Amiram Levinberg. "With this latest deal, we are well on the way to realizing our goal of 25 to 30 percent of revenues in 1998. That means that telephony-generated revenues for this year are expected to be more than 3 times those of last year."

Gilat was awarded the tender from among a short list of major global VSAT vendors. Telkom's Request For Proposal called for the relatively quick roll-out of one of the world's first 'all-outdoor' VSAT-based telephone networks. The majority of the VSATs are expected to be solar-powered and mounted on 5-meter poles attached to businesses and private residences in South Africa's northern rural areas of Northern Province and Mpumalanga.

In an announcement dated August 20, 1998, Telkom said it intended "to issue a new corporate bond to raise an additional R2.5 billion in capital to assist in funding its ambitious network expansion and modernization roll-out program. This is aimed at addressing the leading-edge technology requirements of corporate South Africa, as well as at taking telephony services into previously underserved areas."