New IGADO+ video service is now streaming, with 125 live channels dedicated to the Ethiopian market, operating through national provider Ethio Telecom over broadband and mobile.
A new video streaming service called IGADO+ is now available, dedicated to the Ethiopian market and operating in conjunction with national provider Ethio Telecom to deliver the service over broadband and mobile. IGADO+ launched with 125 live television channels and thousands of hours of video on demand content.
The channels are diverse, delivering content ranging across entertainment, children’s programming, educational games and educational VOD content, religion and sports, including match day coverage of English Premier League football club Arsenal, Real Madrid and local sports services. To serve the community, much of the content is dubbed into local languages Amharic and Afaan Oromoo.
In partnership with Ethio Telecom, the service is made available on portable devices, with smart TVs to be added soon. Ethio is intensively marketing the IGADO+ service as a value-add for its subscribers. It is aimed to be a service for all, with subscriptions as low as 199 Birr a month, equivalent to around US $1.65, and users can subscribe from the Ethio USSD portal where they manage their accounts.
TV Management System
The MwareTV TVMS (TV Management System) is a completely cloud-based platform where users can access the systems required to maintain a service like IGADO+. It hosts all of their content, for instance, allowing operators to plan services using regular drag and drop tools. The TVMS links directly with the Ethio Telecom subscription management system, to make subscribing to the IGADO service very simple.
MwareTV is cloud-based with a single interface to configure all aspects of a TV service, including the import and management of content metadata, and presentation of the service to viewers. As a multi-tenant system, it can be used to support individual brands, or to make unbranded TV-as-a-Service (TVaaS) packages available to third parties. A unique UI can be customised for each market.
It has many of the advantages associated with cloud-based operations like scalability, continuous uptime for customers and a license model that can be expanded over time. When setting up the workflow and management for VOD and series services, content transcoding and distribution can be automated from inside the TVMS, with options for serving content on either a subscription- or transaction-based model, with or without advertisements.
The TVMS includes a dashboard displaying information and analytics about the usage of a TV service with standard reports about favourite content, used devices and time spent.
Keeping It Simple
MwareTV operates on the idea that consumers need a simple, intuitive and readily understood user interface on their smartphones and tablets. A key part of the MwareTV package is a suite of white-label interfaces for all common devices, which can be quickly tailored and branded with no need for coding. This makes it simple to create common, usable, attractive apps for all devices.
“Our goal is to make information and entertainment accessible to everyone in Ethiopia,” said Ibrahim Gado, General Manager at IGADO+. “In partnership with Ethio Telecom, IGADO+ supplies the Ethiopian community with affordable, engaging content. By working with MwareTV as they built the infrastructure, we have all the functionality we need, and can still deliver an excellent service at a price to suit our market. We are very excited by the response to our launch.”
Service Focus
Sander Kerstens, CEO of MwareTV, said “What makes the MwareTV proposition effective is that it removes the technical concerns by hosting them in the cloud. This means the operator can focus on the quality of service. In this case, IGADO can build audience loyalty through great content and attractive marketing offers, confident that our cloud platform will automatically execute all those decisions and deliver the programming, in the best possible quality, through the Ethio Telecom networks to subscribers.
“We also set up all the links to ensure subscriptions and customers are managed correctly. As IGADO has shown, with very low start-up costs and services based on subscriber numbers, with MwareTV you can launch a with features and content that are relevant to the audience and its culture, at a suitable affordable cost.” www.mwaretv.com
