The country on Wednesday took a step into theera of telecommunications, broadcasting andmedia convergence as MTN Nigeria commencedthe pilot of its digital television broadcastingservice in Jos, Plateau State.The TV service, which goes live today (Thursday),is sequel to the issuance of a digital broadcastlicence to MTN for N34bn, by the NigerianBroadcasting Corporation in 2015.Aside the N34bn, sources said that the telecomscompany had spent about N25bn extra to getthe TV running.With the service, MTN Nigeria Executive, LyndaSaint-Nwafor, said Nigerians could now watch TVprogrammes on their smartphones and otherdevices via Over-the-Top platforms likeWhatsApp, BlackBerry Messenger, Facebook andTwitter, among others.According to the Chief Executive Officer, MTNNigeria, Ferdi Moolman, subscribers will havethe freedom to watch their favouriteprogrammes when they choose the MTN Video-on-Demand service, “rather than having towatch at a specific broadcast time.”“This will be the first fully converged broadcastand OTT-VOD service to launch in MTN,” he said.Moolman added that MTN was committed toproviding Nigerians with innovative digitalplatforms, “which will enhance the way we live,work and play.”He said, “Once we commence full commercialactivities, the TV service will deliver an excitingbouquet of rich local and international contentto Nigerians.“Indeed, the launch of MTN TV is another bolddemonstration of MTN’s abiding faith in thefuture of Nigeria, driving growth anddevelopment by enabling Nigerians to keeppace with the latest global trends and convergedsolutions.”Saint-Nwafor also stated that MTN’s vision was tolead the delivery of a bold new digital world.“We are committed to exploring opportunitiesand avenues to expand our digital footprint andvalue offering to our customers. We are,therefore, constantly seeking appropriatechannels to place the latest technologies andservices in the hands of Nigerians, and this isone of such,” she added.Meanwhile, a report after the Annual GeneralMeeting of the MTN Group on Wednesday statedthat MTN Nigeria’s data revenue in the first fourmonths of 2016 declined by 12 per cent mainlydue to the withdrawing of regulatory service
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