Airel Nigeria said it will deploy Ericsson's NuVu end-to-end SVOD product.
Starting in the first quarter, the Nigerian operator's 30 million customers will have on-demand streaming access to 3,000 local and international film and TV titles via the offering. Users will also be able to download content during non-peak Internet usage hours at no additional data cost.
"Africa has some of the highest mobile adoption rates globally, with ever-increasing levels of investment and infrastructure," said Thorsten Sauer, head of broadcast and media services for Ericsson. "However, downloading is currently preferred to streaming due to connectivity issues. We believe there is a huge opportunity to open a window to a world of content through mobile devices that may not otherwise be easily accessible."
It's an interesting turnkey model in a global pay-TV industry in which virtually every operator is now looking to launch a streaming service of some kind. Release