In its bid to alleviate the perennial energy crisis in Nigeria, leading payTV company, Startimes, is poised to launch into the market a solar energy product. This is part of the innovations that Mr David Zhang, the new CEO of StarTimes Nigeria, is bringing into the payTV business.
Zhang, who hosted journalists to a breakfast meeting at Raddisson Blu Hotel, Ikeja GRA, Lagos penultimate Monday, said since its debut in Nigeria about 10 years ago, his company had brought a number of innovations into the industry.
“We started mainly as a payTV company, offering DTT service that allows Nigerians to watch satellite TV from different parts of the country, using just an antenna and a decoder. After some years, we introduced DTH, which is the dish. With this service, we broadcast programmes to all our customers pan Africa, reaching more than 30 African countries,” Zhang explained.
Speaking further, the StarTimes’ helmsman said: “That is not all, our most recent business offering is our OTT business called StarTimes ON. StarTimes ON is our online video streaming service. It is the next generation of StarTimes streaming service. It introduces new features such as video-on-demand, live TV and lots of movies, sports and entertainment content all on the mobile app free of charge.”
Zhang, who disclosed that StarTimes’ investments since it began operation in Nigeria in 2010 is worth over $220 million, said that over 4,000 Nigerians had been employed directly by StarTimes and indirectly through its dealers.
Zhang had earlier worked in Nigeria between 2012 and 2013 and was the CEO of StarTimes Kenya for four years before returning to Nigeria in January 2019. Established as a joint venture between NTA in 2009 to form NTA-StarTV Network Limited, popularly known as StarTimes, Zhang said that even after almost 10 years in the business in Nigeria, the mission of StarTimes remained the same: “To provide affordable quality entertainment to every African home, and we do this through innovation, integrity, diligence and devotion.”