Middle East & Africa Update > News Digital TV Europe October 2015 icflix strikes set-top box partnership MTN acquires pay TV licence as with Humax Nigeria outlines new DSO steps Middle East and North African streaming service icflix has partnered with Humax to inte- grate the icflix app directly into Humax Android set-top boxes for the Gulf region. Humax’s new H1 Android set- top box will be the first OTT set- top box in the MENA region to bring together customised local content such as icflix, according to KW Shin, general manager of Humax Gulf FZE. Shin said the new pock- et-sized box would overcome the need of multiple decoders for different operators, “as we [are] working closely with all OTT operators and pay TV operators to integrate their VOD services on Humax set-top boxes.” Customers will also get a free one-month icflix trial with the new set-top box. “The integration of the icflix app on Humax’s Android set-top boxes will make it easier for customers to watch premium content on their television sets, giving them access to award-winning Hollywood movies alongside Jazwood and Bollywood content,” said Icflix’s head of business development, Mohammed Amine Lalami. The Humax H1 set-top box will become available to custom- ers in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, Oman, Lebanon, Palestine and Algeria, with other countries to follow. Canal+ Group to deliver new DTT service in Africa Canal+ Overseas will broadcast a new package of digital terrestrial TV channels in French-speaking Africa from the end of 2015. The Canal+ subsidiary will transmit the new pay TV offering of channels to DTT transmitters in approximately 10 French-speaking countries. The service is due to launch by the end of the year and will comprise a basic package of 25 channels and a selection of national channels per country. “Digital switchover is a unique opportunity for Africa and its broadcasting landscape. It opens the door to new channels with improved image quality and more locally produced programmes that better meet viewer expec- 6 tations,” said Bruno Cattan, technology and web director, Canal+ Overseas. “We wanted to seize this opportunity and use Eu- telsat’s powerful African satellite resources to launch a TV service that will enable a large number of households...to enjoy the best that television can offer.” Canal+ Overseas has leased a 72MHz transponder on Eutelsat 3B to deliver the Canal+ channel offering. Michel Azibert, Eutelsat’s chief commercial and devel- opment officer said: “Satellite technology is a natural ally for DTT...in the countries targeted by our partner, as the reach we de- liver can feed terrestrial networks spread over a huge landmass.” NBC director-general Emeka Mba explains Nigeria’s plans to the press. South African telco MTN has acquired a licence to provide digital-terrestrial pay TV ser- vices in Nigeria. MTN has paid NGN34 billion (€149 million) to the Nige- rian National Broadcasting Commission for the licence, which will enable the operator to provide pay TV services over the country’s digital-terrestrial network. The move follows the failure of Nigeria to meet its ITU commitments to finalise digital switchover this year. The NBC admitted in June that it would not make the deadline and agreed a new deadline of June 20 2017 in coordination with neighbouring states. The NBC said the MTN deal would provide just under 50% of the budget to finance digital switchover. According to the Commission, the spectrum sold was “lying fallow”. The regulator has now set new milestones to achieve dig- ital switchover by the revised deadline. It expects to take delivery of imported set-top boxes for a pilot project, Jos, by the end of October, with the local manufacture of boxes to follow by April next year. The sale of boxes will be subsidised and devices will be available for NGN1,500. The NBC plans to complete the planning for its transmission infrastructure and to begin live transmissions by the end of December. According to the regulator, the government has agreed a fixed annual service charge payable on all DTT boxes and TV sets, to be known as the Digital Access Fee. This will be payable by current as well as future operators of DTT spectrum. Nigeria plans to launch 30 new channels on the platform and aims to realize NGN100 billion from digital dividend spectrum sales. “When it became obvious that [the] government could not spare the money, and in order to avoid missing another deadline, we began to consider other options. Our broadcast frequency, which is to even- tually form part of the digital dividend after the DSO, had portions of it lying fallow while our broadcasters were still using parts of it. We there- fore proposed and got proper permission from government to license part of our spectrum lying fallow and to use the proceeds to finance the DSO,” said NBC director-general Emeka Mba at a press confer- ence. “I’m pleased to inform you that we have successfully licensed MTN Nigeria Ltd to use a part of the 700MHz to provide digital pay TV broad- casting services. We have thus raised 34 billion Naira, slightly less than 50% of our budget. I am pleased to inform you, also, that through this singular move, Nigeria has once again pointed the way for other Afri- can countries struggling with the effort of finding financing for their own digital switchover programmes.” Visit us at www.digitaltveurope.net