AfricaCast 2011: SouthTel ready to launch Africa's first true return-path, video-on-demand service with VOD:TV; 200 hours of HD content.

SouthTel is ready to launch VOD:TV in South Africa in 2012 and elsewhere in Southern Africa with more than 200 hours of high definition (HD) content per month (400 SD hours) and Africa's first true return-path enabled video-on-demand (VOD) service that includes a double-sided remote control with a full keyboard at the back.

SouthTel has thrown down the gauntlet and says the company is looking for mobile operators across Southern Africa who possibly wants to partner with the company in bringing video-on-demand (VOD) to consumers.

SouthTel has a fully-functional and tested VOD system, with international content deals signed and in place, as well as a secure conditional access system. SouthTel plans to roll out its VOD:TV service in South Africa early in 2012 but says its ready to immediately expands beyond South Africa's borders.

''We will also easily be able to customise the user-interface of VOD:TV from country to country,'' said Oscar Dube, SouthTel CEO and founder. He was speaking at the AfricaCast 2011 TV summit in Cape Town which is part of the 14th AfricaCom conference. He said SouthTel will partner with mobile operators as the PVR decoder for VOD:TV comes with a 3G card to enable a true return-path and make true interactive VOD television possible for the first time in Africa.

''If you look at pay TV in South Africa and the rest of Africa, they don't really have a true return path way to communicate with subscribers. VOD:TV will. You don't buy packages, you consume content as you want to by using airtime while video and audio is pushed to the set top box (STB).''

''I really want to invite mobile operators across Africa to come and talk to us. The product is immediately available. It's not something we're still working on it's something that we can talk about with mobile operators right now. There's no need for broadband, we don't need any mobile operator's infrastructure – we have our own infrastructure, so mobile operators don't have to spend any cash on capital expenditure or operational expenditure,'' Oscar Dube said.

''The VOD:TV service will offer 400 hours of standard definition (SD) content per month, or 200 hours of high definition (HD) content per month. We're looking at doing about 200 hours of HD content. Content will also be specifically customised per country. We're not saying that because you're in Zimbabwe or Botswana you have to watch the content we will be having for South Africa. We, together with mobile operators, will be able to completely customise for your country and your subscriber base's needs.''

''We tested VOD:TV with 70 decoders; we tested with regional specific advertising for provinces. Together with SouthTel, mobile operators will be able to enter the video content market. SouthTel is at the forefront of the mindset shift for Africa that you have to move away from traditional linear television, to more on-demand TV content which is transactional based – viewers watching the content that they want, when they want to.'' He said SouthTel is ''looking for partnerships with broadcasters and telecoms because in every country we're looking for local content.''

The conditional access system SouthTel's VOD:TV decoders will be using is Safe Access which is proprietary to Logiways. I asked Rick Smith, the senior vice president, sales and marketing of Logiways in France about the security system.

''It's certified, approved by the Hollywood studios, it's deployed currently in Europe for Hollywood content, and it will work in exactly the same way with SouthTel's VOD:TV platform here in Africa,'' Rick Smith said. ''We secure the content from end to end from the ingestion right through to the consumer consumption. The conditional access system is specifically designed, unlike linear systems, to protect content whilst it reside on a STB right up until the time it is deleted.''