Ericsson to Debut New SVOD Service in Nigeria

STOCKHOLM: Ericsson’s first end-to-end SVOD content service, NuVu, is set to launch in early 2016 with Airtel Nigeria as a partner.

NuVu will feature around 3,000 TV and film titles, available for a monthly fee. Content can be downloaded directly to smartphones or tablets at no additional data cost during off-peak network times, and access will be available offline for up to 30 days after downloading.

Through the partnership with Airtel Nigeria, NuVu will launch in the first quarter of 2016 to more than 30 million Airtel subs in Nigeria.

NuVu’s content offering will span a variety of genres, including Hollywood and Nollywood movies, TV series, kids’ programming, music, gospel and education. Ericsson is working with a number of international distributors to acquire TV and film content for the new service.

The service will launch initially as an Android app for smartphones. Ericsson will continue to roll out the service on other platforms and operating systems.

Thorsten Sauer, the head of broadcast and media services at Ericsson, said: “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.

“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.

“As one of the largest operators across Africa and the third-largest mobile operator in the world, Airtel is the perfect partner to help us launch NuVu. We are very proud to launch NuVu in Africa and we look forward to rolling out this service to other markets over the coming year.”

Ahmed Mokhles, the chief commercial officer at Airtel Nigeria, added: “At Airtel we are passionate about putting smiles on the faces of Nigerians, and this is one of the ways we achieve this goal. One of the key advantages of NuVu is the fact that customers will have the flexibility to enjoy a variety of entertaining content, including music videos, comedy, movie trailers, cartoons and sports among others, on their mobile devices—anytime, anywhere they desire.

“We are delighted to be a part of this project, as it also reinforces our commitment to creating real value for all our stakeholders, in line with our key objective of enriching lives and empowering people.”