Telenor Pakistan, the countrys second largest mobile network, has introduced the countrys first Mobile TV service with the launch of Telenor Mobile TV, provided by ROK. The service enables customers to watch live TV, including local and international channels, on their handsets.
“With Telenor Mobile TV, no longer is Mobile TV confined to 3G operators says Telenor Pakistan CTO Peter Anthony Dindial. With this industry-first service, delivered on Pakistans Largest GPRS/EDGE platform, Telenor customers can view multiple channels right on their handsets, making the Telenor customer truly special. We are intent on making it easy for our customers to use advanced services and utilise the real potential of Telenors available technology and the quality of its network.
Telenor Mobile TV will offer a range of channels, starting with Al-Jazeera, ABC News, TV 1, Indus Plus, Indus Vision, Cartoon Classic, MTV-Pakistan, Channel G, Filmazia, Waseeb, AWT Khyber & KTN. More channels will be added soon.
Since the service launched four weeks ago, Telenor has signed up 10,000 subscribers, and ROK Marketing Director Bruce Renny says Telenor is a classic example of a telco who wants to offer quality video streaming, but is reluctant to invest in 3G because of the cost.
Renny points out that the Telenor Mobile TV service will offer live and on-demand Mobile TV channels playing at an equivalent or faster rate than any 3G service, and says network operators should look upon Mobile TV as a great way of reducing churn.
The networks will tell you that if people are churning at the rate of 35% a year, then in three years time, they will come back to you says Renny. But the single biggest driver for churn is price, so people churn because they are tempted by a better deal, which means that if they do come back, they will do so at a lower ARPU than when they left. The way to arrest this process is by offering compelling services, and the most obvious one is Mobile TV.
ROK TV is currently being deployed to 30 selected mobile network operators worldwide, with the next official launch with AIS in Thailand on Monday.