Exset Unveils $20 Technology For Africa
By: Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh
Email:kankiilu@yahoo.com
Exset, pioneers of TV ecosystems for emerging markets, has revealed how the technology behind its pioneering Digital Monetisation System (DMS) works, facilitating the transformation and monetisation of television platforms across Africa.
The Chief Technology Officer with Exset, Gary Ellis added: “To make this project work we needed to develop an ecosystem – now called the Digital Monetisation System (DMS) – that allows additional interactive services over and above TV via digital networks at an incredibly low price point for operators – our target for set-top boxes is $20 per unit, which we’ve met. This means that revenues can be generated not only via a very low subscription fee, but also via interactive transactions and information dissemination.”
By taking the popular application model whereby the core processing is carried out centrally with the content then distributed when the application is accessed via the TV screen, low power set-top boxes can be deployed to receive services.
Exset has created a flexible and graphically pleasing template-based onscreen system that’s populated using an Exset-developed content publishing technology. This can be accessed via those who have paid to disseminate content, be that government departments like health and education, local service providers or teleshopping operations. This interactive content publisher is accessed via the internet and is similar in concept to a website content management system.
Ellis said: “The publisher is the key to the business model. The interactive content can be changed through the day to suit different demographics, from the young to the old and anywhere in between depending on the time of day. The content distribution carousel rotates every two minutes so that the content can be truly dynamic. Operators can then sell space and access to the publisher. Digitisation in developing countries is about getting a 200-300 Mbit/s pipe into people’s homes of digital data – effectively that’s what digital broadcast networks allow. Most of it will be used for TV channel delivery but there’s the opportunity now to get vital services – as well as lifestyle interactivity – into people’s homes.”
Rahul Nehra, Global Head of Sales and Marketing at Exset, noted that across Africa the TV screen offers the most potent and low-cost way of reaching populations on the wrong side of the digital divide.”
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