Internet Protocol television (IPTV) should be rolled out as part of a triple play offering, if it is to garner more interest in Africa, according to the chief executive officer (CEO) of Turbo Worx.
Given the high costs of internet data access on the continent, IPTV will not take off in Africa unless it is part of a tripartite affordable service offering on the part of operators, said Gelfrand Kausiyo, CEO of Turbo Worx at the Digital TV Summit.
“A triple play formula is needed to implement IPTV across Africa,” Kausiyo said.
“It will take a long time, a lot of effort and some innovation in product offerings to get Africans to respond more positively to the IPTV phenomenon,” he argued.
In particular, Kausiyo said, operators should work on developing affordable triple play packages – which include high-speed internet, telephone and basic IPTV – to circumvent the currently unattainable cost of internet data access in Africa, which deters consumers from IPTV given the bandwidth intensive nature of video, which makes watching video over the internet costly.
Kausiyo also berated providers for the high cost of mobile broadband access across the continent, making note of the fact that the majority of African internet users gain access to the internet via mobile devices.
“The cost of mobile broadband is absurd in Africa,” commented Kausiyo.
“Compared to Europe at the developed world, Africans are paying way too much to access broadband services.”
Considering global IPTV experiences, Kausiyo noted that French subscribers pay approximately $45 per month for triple play services including IPTV; US subscribers pay on average $100 for a similar offering; while in China consumers pay between $4 and $8 per month for IPTV services.
These are suitable environments for launching IPTV, says Kausiyo, the consumer able to pay for IPTV services, as opposed to paying an IPTV fee plus the hundreds of dollars for broadband access.
