Vubiquity teams up with Discover Digital for Zimbabwe deal

Amdocs-owned on-demand aggregator and technology outfit Vubiquity has struck a multi-year deal with payment platform Discover Digital to provide international and local content to service providers in Africa, kicking off with TelOne Digital Entertainment On Demand (DEOD) in Zimbabwe.

The deal covers two tiers of subscription content on the Discover Digital Service – On Demand and DEOD Premium – that encompass content including music videos and transactional titles from six major Hollywood studios available on a rent-by-title basis.

Discover Digital provides and manages solutions which offer combined payment channels, enabling customers to subscribe, buy or rent through mobile money platforms and vouchers from any TelOne outlet.

TelOne Zimbabwe is the largest telecommunications entity in Zimbabwe and has the second largest fixed-line network in southern Africa. The new service will offer TelOne customers flexibility to consume content via a number of different payment channels.

Darcy Antonellis, head of Amdocs Media and CEO of Vubiquity said: “We are absolutely delighted to be working with Discover Digital and TelOne on this important and exciting new venture. The African video market remains highly dynamic and is growing; we are pleased to contribute to and support this positive trajectory. This deal builds on Vubiquity’s global experience, and further establishes us as the first-choice content and VOD partner in emerging markets.”

Stephen Watson, Discover Digital international director, said: “Launching the TelOne DEOD service in Zimbabwe is yet another key milestone for our long-term, strategic partnership with Vubiquity. Launching a service with a strong foundation of international premium content enables TelOne to start with a qualitative content base, upon which we can build. Having the trust and valued input of Vubiquity as we continue to grow our DEOD service internationally is an essential enabler for our telecommunications and broadcast partners in accelerating their OTT video offerings.”

TelOne DEOD was launched in Harare in October by Zimbabwe communications minister Kazembe Kazembe. The service bundles on-demand TV with TelOne broadband.