6. Expenses
6.1 Cost of handsets, equipment, software and directories
 
   Group   Company 
   31 March 
2021 
Rm 

31 March 
2020 
Rm 
31 March 
2021 
Rm 

31 March 
2020 
Rm 
Cost of handsets, equipment, software and directories (4 781) (5 625) (2 722) (3 189)
The decline in cost of handsets, equipment, software and directories is primarily due to the major distribution channels being closed during the COVID-19 national lockdown. This was largely in the first six months of the current financial year.         
6.2 Sales commission, incentives and logistical costs
 
  Group  Company
  31 March 
2021 
Rm 

31 March 
2020 
Rm 
31 March 
2021 
Rm 

31 March 
2020 
Rm 
Sales commission, incentives and logistical costs (2 425) (2 006) (2 243) (1 778)
This increase is mainly as a result of the year on year growth in mobile revenues.        
6.3 Employee expenses
 
   Group   Company 
   31 March 
2021 
Rm 

31 March 
2020 
Rm 
31 March 
2021 
Rm 

31 March 
2020 
Rm 
Employee expenses  (9 312) (10 713) (4 762) (6 311)
Salaries and wages  (7 755) (8 563) (3 466) (4 329)
Post-retirement pension and retirement fund (refer to note 29) (536) (623) (364) (474)
Post-retirement medical aid (refer to note 29) 122  70  122  70 
Post-retirement telephone rebates (refer to note 29) (35) (40) (35) (40)
Share-based compensation expense (refer to note 24) (203) (328) (154) (323)
Other benefits*  (1 117) (1 620) (1 077) (1 606)
Employee expenses capitalised to capital projects  212  391  212  391 
* Other benefits include, among others, skills development, annual leave, performance incentive, service bonuses, voluntary employee severance/voluntary early retirement and retrenchment package costs and termination benefits. Included in other benefits as at 31 March 2021 is a R270 million (31 March 2020: R1 186 million) expense for voluntary severance, retirement and retrenchment packages.
6.4 Other expenses
 
   Group   Company 
   31 March 
2021 
Rm 
 Restated 
31 March 
2020 
Rm 
31 March 
2021 
Rm 

31 March 
2020 
Rm 
Other expenses (2 197) (2 756) (953) (877)
Included in the other expenses line item are the following expenses:        
Operating expenses (1 886) (2 448) (608) (584)
Sundry expenses (147) (207) (80) (36)
Licence fees (370) (292) (354) (281)
Subsistence and travel (18) (87) (8) (44)
Third party service costs (1 055) (1 499) – 
Image building and market research costs  (48) (73) (49) (73)
Commission  (110) (106) (110) (105)
Data procedure expenses (76) (87)
Other (62) (97) (7) (45)
Non-operating expenses (311) (308) (345) (293)
Donations (1) (45) (32) (44)
Losses (307) (248) (307) (248)
Other (3) (15) (6) (1)
6.5 Maintenance
 
  Group  Company
  31 March 
2021 
Rm 

31 March 
2020 
Rm 
31 March 
2021 
Rm 

31 March 
2020 
Rm 
Maintenance (3 971) (3 880) (4 871) (4 855)
Maintenance cost has slightly increased year on year, largely due to higher maintenance and support contract costs emanating from the growth in the Mobile business and from higher submarine cable maintenance.        
6.6 Service fees
 
  Group  Company
  31 March 
2021 
Rm 

31 March 
2020 
Rm 
31 March 
2021 
Rm 

31 March 
2020 
Rm 
Service fees (3 316) (3 274) (2 858) (2 753)
Facilities and property management (2 037) (1 990) (1 815) (1 776)
Consultancy, security and other services (1 279) (1 284) (1 043) (977)
6.7 Lease-related expenses
 
  Group  Company
  31 March 
2021 
Rm 

31 March 
2020 
Rm 
31 March 
2021 
Rm 

31 March 
2020 
Rm 
Lease-related expenses
Included in lease-related expenses is an amount of R54 million (31 March 2020: R168 million) for Group and Rnil (31 March 2020: R103 million) for Company related to short-term leases as well as month-to-month leases that are non-strategic in nature. Similar to prior year, there were no low value leases. Variable lease payments were not included in the lease liability in the current year.
(487) (478) (449) (518)
6.8 Depreciation, amortisation, impairments and write-offs of non-financial assets
 
  Group  Company
  31 March 
2021 
Rm 

31 March 
2020 
Rm 
31 March 
2021 
Rm 

31 March 
2020 
Rm 
Depreciation, amortisation, impairments and write-offs of non-financial assets (6 870) (6 915) (6 863) (6 808)
Depreciation of property, plant and equipment (4 918) (4 868) (4 546) (4 512)
Depreciation of right-of-use assets (947) (954) (1 416) (1 510)
Amortisation of intangible assets (805) (679) (708) (579)
Write-offs, impairments and losses of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets (200) (414) (193) (207)
The estimated useful lives assigned to groups of property, plant and equipment are: Years Years Years Years
Freehold buildings* 5 to 50 5 to 50 10 to 40 10 to 40
Network equipment        
Cables 4 to 30 4 to 30 4 to 30 4 to 30
Switching equipment 5 to 18 5 to 18 5 to 18 5 to 18
Transmission equipment 5 to 18 5 to 18 5 to 18 5 to 18
Other 2 to 18 2 to 18 2 to 18 2 to 18
Support equipment 5 to 13 5 to 13 5 to 13 5 to 13
Furniture and office equipment 5 to 15 5 to 15 11 to 15 11 to 15
Data processing equipment and software 3 to 10 3 to 10 5 to 10 5 to 10
Telkom support services equipment 2 to 20 2 to 20 2 to 20 2 to 20
The expected useful lives assigned to intangible assets are: Years Years Years Years
Software and licences 3 to 10 5 to 10 5 to 10 5 to 10
Trademarks, copyrights and other 5 to 13 4 to 13 5 to 13 4 to 13
* In the published FY2020 financial statements, 5 to 43 years were disclosed as the useful lives for freehold buildings which was based on the active asset categories which had lower maximum useful lives remaining. In the current year, Telkom has opted to disclose the maximum useful lives for which the assets can be used under this category.

During the year, the Group reassessed the useful lives on various technologies. The reassessment takes into account the Group's current capex strategy and changes in the technological environment. The reassessment of useful lives decreased the depreciation expense by R110 million and increased the amortisation expense by R66 million (31 March 2020: depreciation expense decreased by R272 million and the amortisation expense decreased by R17 million) at a company level and decreased the depreciation expense by R120 million and increased the amortisation expense by R62 million (31 March 2020: depreciation expense decreased by R284 million and the amortisation expense decreased by R23 million) at a group level. Refer to note 2.5.15 and note 2.5.13 for the related accounting policies.