africa2_africa 30/10/2013 09:34 Page 8
transponders.
GOtv, a product of
MultiChoice Africa, is a new
digital pay television offering
on Digital Terrestrial
Television platforms established in a number of
countries in Sub-Saharan
Africa. This new mass market
offering provides digital
home television for the
Insider's View
Eyal Copitt, SVP sales
Africa Asia, marketing
at Spacecom, offers
his thoughts on the
Africa market
l Almost everywhere in Africa
the demand for satellite services
is expanding. Broadcast is being
driven by increasing numbers of
HD channels as well as the
growth of local or regional
broadcasters. With more regions
outside of urban areas requesting and receiving the capabilities
to receive broadcast channels,
the market continues to surge
forward.
l Spacecom is currently seeing
a great deal of activity in East
whole family at an
affordable price.
Currently, terrestrial
broadcasting in most
African countries is in
an analogue format,
however each country is in
the process of migrating
from analogue to digital and
through partnerships and
working in collaboration with
governments and state
broadcasters, GOtv is
contributing to this digital
migration process.
GOtv was first launched in
Zambia in June 2011, and
the viewing needs of subscribers, DVB-T2 also allows
for far more efficiency for
the spectrum allocation as
each frequency can carry up
to 20 channels.
The GOtv brand was specially created to make available an affordable digital television product for all.
Television viewers in SubSaharan Africa are now set to
benefit from easy access to
an increased number of channels, with enhanced picture
and sound quality synonymous with digital television.
capacity to serve all of Africa
creates excellent conditions for
us.
Services) shares his
observations on the
African market.
Africa. Migration to digital from
analogue broadcast services is
one of the drivers alongside a
great thirst for more content –
both international and
local/regional. AMOS-5 at 17°E
is supplying both DTH and DTT
markets as operators move to
meet the needs of rural and
urban regions. East Africa is
adding DTT infrastructure to
serve rural areas and outlying
regions thereby answering the
need to reach as much population as possible.
l Broadband is also growing
primarily due to mobile phone
data usage and an increase in
corporate VSAT applications.
Not only in urban areas but also
outside, citizens are becoming
accustomed to mobile telephony service and thus are using
more and more applications
requiring broadband. Backhaul
is an important element for
these services and thus AMOS-5
is seeing greater interest and
business on this level.
l Spacecom has always posited
that more fibre is good for
satellites. With additional services reaching more of the population thanks to fibre, and as
these people become accustomed to improved and various
services, the demand for these
services will increase in areas
only reached by satellite.
Demand created by fibre pushes
the entire industry up and
AMOS-5's position at 17°E with
10 AFRICA Briefing
since then has also been
launched in Uganda, Kenya
and Nigeria. These DTT
networks have required significant investments by
MultiChoice Africa and its
partners to ensure the latest
technology is deployed in
each country. GOtv is delivered using the latest next
generation Digital Video
Broadcast standard - DVBT2 technology which enables
the offering to be regionalised - thus delivering a
different channel line-up per
country in order to truly suit
l AMOS-5 has pan African Cband and three regional Kuband beams providing capacity
to satisfy the continent's needs
and meet its increasing
demand. We are excited by the
future.
Insider's View
Eran Avni, CEO, ECS
(European
Communication
l ECS has identified two
growth trends predicated upon
positive business models for the
Sub-Saharan Africa broadcast
industry: African TV channels
are seeking access to the
African diaspora around the
world; and European and UK based African channels are
looking to reach Africa. In both
cases, broadcasters are bringing
their voices to communities in
Africa and to the world.