Oscar Dube told TV with Thinus that SouthTel ''watched closely and we hope not to go through similar setbacks'' when I asked what SouthTel made of MultiChoice's DStv BoxOffice VOD service which experienced a technical core failure when it launched commercially on 22 July.
ALSO READ: SouthTel to launch a trial version of its brand-new VOD.TV video-on-demand service in August.
Although Oscar Dube didn't tell me, I can reveal that SouthTel is in partnership with MTN and is currently running a field trial with the cellphone operator. The pilot study that SouthTel is conducting to test the VOD.TV service consists of 80 decoders - half of which has already been installed - to an ''exclusive user group around the country''.
''Our focus is on the pilot for now and we will announce the launch date in due course,'' Oscar Dube told me last Monday. He wasn't yet willing to announce a commercial price structure.
''Our product and service offering is different from any that you have seen in Africa. We've been piloting it since 1 August. Our focus is to showcase different ways of delivering content and to bridge the gap with first world countries.''
