A1 Bulgaria taps Zappware for advanced TV service

A1 Telekom Austria’s Bulgarian operation, A1 Bulgaria, has launched A1 Xplore TV, a new advanced TV service using technology provider Zappware’s video back-office: an end-to-end solution. 

The A1 Xplore TV service, based on Zappware’d Nexx 4.0 user experience, provides personalised content from over 80 channels with a seven-day catch-up, offering, an on-demand catalogue and premium sports including La Liga, Serie A and UEFA Campions League football, ATP Master series tennis, NHL ice-hockey and UFC mixed martial arts. 

A1 Telekom Austria has over half a million pay TV customers in Bulgaria, where it owns the former Blizoo cable network and  provides a range of mobile and fixed services, high-speed internet, digital and satellite TV, including four of its own sports channels – MAX Sport 1, MAX Sport 2, Max Sport 3 and Max Sport 4.

The operator also provides payment services, its own music streaming platform, cloud and IoT solutions to five million customers. 

In 2018 A1 reported turnover of €446.2 million and EBITDA of €138 million.

Simeon Donev, senior marketing director of A1 Bulgaria said: “Our goal is to constantly offer innovative services to our customers to suit their dynamic lifestyle. A1 Xplore TV GO is not only interactive, but it also intuitively adapts to the viewers’ preferences. As we are focusing on both quality content, great user experience, and efficient video content management, we used Zappware’s innovative solution to create this service.”

Patrick Vos, CEO of Zappware said: “We are proud to be a part of the commercial launch of our Nexx 4.0 end-to-end solution with A1 Bulgaria. Powered by Zappware’s SDS Evolution back-office, this Nexx 4.0 User Experience makes it possible to cope with the complex DVB/IPTV/OTT footprint in A1 Bulgaria, therefore offering a unified content experience to the end customers. Telecom operators need the right platform to win the battle for HDMI 1. Viewers have a lot of options to consume content. With Nexx 4.0 we ensure the aggregation of all content sources in an intuitive way and help service providers to engage with their consumers and turn them into real fans of the video service.”