Satellite TV service provider, TSTV says its TSTV Africa, will begin commercial operation on Nov. 1.
Tstv Managing Director, Mr Bright Echefu, made this known during a press conference on Saturday in Abuja.
Echefu added that TSTV would launch its services with about one million decoders nationwide.
He said that at least 5,000 decoders TSTV would be released to the
public next week for free, adding that it would use the first set of
decoders with one month free subscription to test run its services.
“Commercialization of our decoders will resume officially on Nov. 1 and
by that time, every part of Nigeria would have TSTV decoders for people
to buy.
“We are releasing about one million which can go round and our target for the first quarter is one million units.
“In every quarter we will bring one million units and we are targeting four million units within the next one year.
“I can tell you categorically that some decoders will be released next
week for Nigerians to test and we are going to cover the 36 states of
the federation.
“These decoders are going to be free and it close to 5,000 units to test and that will last for two weeks,’’ he said.
Echefu disclosed that the delay in releasing the decoders to the public
was to ensure that dealers were properly scrutinized so that the
decoders do not fall into the wrong hands.
He explained that the
decoder would be sold to Nigerians at a subsidized rate. According to
him, the landing cost of the decoder is N28,000.
“We don’t want a situation where someone would pick our decoders and dump them somewhere.
“That is why we are very careful because of competition.
“ We have received well over 6,000 applications and it has been
overwhelming processing these people; but so far, we have been able to
accredit more than 748 dealers and we have received applications from
more than 3,000 of them.
“That is why we have not commercialized
our services even though we are the ones losing because we have enough
decoders to cover the whole of Nigeria.
“But it will be unfair
with all the money put in for us to give decoders out and those decoders
don’t get to the end users,’’ Echefu added.
TSTV boss said that
measures had been put in place to ensure its sustainability in terms of
services, pledging that the organisation would be envied by many
Nigerians in the next ten years.
He disclosed that the
organisation currently has 250 staff on direct employment, while it
expects about 10000 to be engaged indirectly at take off.
According to him, TSTV has improved on its transmission facilities to
overcome weather challenges while expressing happiness over the
acceptance by Nigerians.
He praised the Federal Government for
the three year tax relief granted to the company to encourage more
investors to come to Nigeria.
He said that the company would consolidate on the new tax policy to grow its business in the country and recoup its investment.
On the alleged copyright infringement on two international content
providers, Turner Broadcasting System and beIN sports, Echefu said the
company entered into partnership agreement with every concerned
organisation.
According to him, TSTV will air CNN and beIN sport channels.
He commended DSTV for creating value for Nigerian content.