Ericsson partners with Airtel Nigeria for video-on-demand service
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Ericsson partners with Airtel Nigeria for video-on-demand service

Ericsson and Airtel Nigeria are planning to launch an end-to-end subscription video-on-demand content service next year.

As part of the partnership, Ericsson will make the service – called NuVu – available to Airtel’s 30 million subscribers in Nigeria in the first quarter of 2016. Customers will be able to download a wide variety of content directly on their smartphones or tablets for a monthly fee and at no additional data cost during off-peak network times, according to the companies.

“This is a service which we aim to bring out in sub-Saharan Africa, at least at the beginning, and look elsewhere at a later stage. This is a medium which is growing exponentially,” Niclas Ekdahl, managing director of NuVu, told Bloomberg

The platform, which has been developed by Ericsson, is said to utilise the company’s over-the-top capabilities and will be fully integrated into its customer relationship management and payment systems. 

It claims that a key feature of the service is the built-in ability to distribute content to consumers during off-peak periods which minimises data costs for both operator and consumer. 

Ericsson is said to be working with leading international distributors to acquire more TV content for the service as it looks to roll out the service to other markets next year. 

“The launch of NuVu is a significant landmark for Ericsson and is uniquely positioned to help our operator customers to address a significant untapped market for video content,” said Thorsten Sauer, head of broadcast and media services at Ericsson.

"Africa has some of the highest mobile adoption rates globally, with ever-increasing levels of investment and infrastructure. 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.”

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