New streaming service to launch in Africa

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The service, according to V-Nova, will combine the V-Nova P+ codec-agnostic enhancement and easy-to-deploy Simplestream streaming platform to provide a wide range of high-quality content to audiences and customers across Africa. P+ supports the upcoming MPEG-5 Part 2 LCEVC compression standard. This means that MVMO will be one of the first platforms to deploy it. According to V-Nova, MVMO will make it possible to watch videos anywhere there is a phone signal.

MVMO (movies, video, music, opportunity) is, according to V-Nova, a distribution platform developed in association with the Creative Africa Exchange (CAX), a marketplace targeted at the creative and cultural industry, sponsored by Afreximbank. MVMO will, claims V-Nova, help consolidate the increasing demand for high-quality streaming content across Africa. MVMO is currently undergoing trials in several locations in Nigeria with other countries to be announced. MVMO is partnering with global content providers such as Times Multimedia TMM, which will serve as the platform’s exclusive news affiliate. MVMO aims to allow independent producers to publish and monetize their content. This is said to support the increasing number of African creative industries.

“Simplestream’s remarkable platform has revolutionised content distribution and continues to break new ground in the initiation of new streaming services. Our P+ software library is fundamental to the feasibility of this service as it allows people to enjoy [the] video, even on 2G networks with a bitrate of only 100 Kbps but also enables high-quality full HD at just 1Mbps. Integrating P+ into Simplestream’s platform will open up opportunities worldwide,” said Guido Meardi, V-Nova CEO and co-founder.

“We are very pleased to be partnering with MVMO and V-Nova on the development and introduction of this hugely exciting new service. We see a lot of potential for V-Nova’s P+ technology to enable a larger reach to consumers and improved quality of service in territories such as Africa that are particularly dependent on mobile networks. Combined with our award-winning end to end streaming platform, that is now widely adopted across EMEA, we are confident that this service will be a vibrant addition to Africa’s burgeoning OTT TV sector,” commented Dan Finch, chief commercial officer of Simplestream.

“The combination of Simplestream and V-Nova technologies has provided us with a versatile and highly-efficient streaming platform that allows us to reach a vast untapped audience across any mobile network. We will be launching MVMO at the international CAX weekend event in Kigali, Rwanda in December and look forward to welcoming our first viewers to this unique new platform,” said Sandra Iyawa, CEO of Times Multimedia and chief content officer for MVMO.