OnMobile, Airtel Africa partner on football services

DigitalSENSE Business News:

Leading Value Added Service (VAS), OnMobile Global Limited has partnered Airtel Africa to power a service called Airtel Football across the continent.

Reports gathered by DigitalSENSE Business News noted that as part of this engagement, OnMobile has partnered with Goal.com, and holds the official rights to English Premier League live match alerts in Africa. Airtel subscribers will benefit from updates on their favorite football clubs and live match alerts.

The partnership, DigitalSENSE Business News reports, evolved incredibly achieving an adoption rate of 11.6 million subscribers across 11 countries in Africa since its launch in August, 2012 making Airtel Football one of the most all-encompassing operator-branded mobile football subscription services.

DigitalSENSE Business News recalls that this service is an offshoot of OnMobile’s and Airtel’s vision to reach out across subscriber segments from the bottom of the pyramid users to smartphone users as well as high-value customers. This also supports Airtel’s objective of adapting to the enormous proliferation of Mobile Internet users across the continent.

Vice President, Africa, OnMobile, Biswajit Nandi, said that football in Africa is a television phenomenon, especially on paid channels.

“A lot of subscribers across the continent do not have access to television but love Football nonetheless. OnMobile is excited to power this service, through our partnership with Airtel, a leading global operator. Our aim is to directly touch the lives of millions of sport lovers and offer our consumers the best possible user experience,” he said.

Andre Beyers, Chief Marketing Officer, Airtel Africa said, “Football is the greatest passion in Africa. Our vision is to enable and take the game to all fans, even those without access to television. Combining Airtel’s customer reach and knowledge with OnMobile’s strong technology, we believe that we can take the world of football closer to the fans.” 

The football service which is accessible through SMS, IVR, USSD, WAP, Web and very shortly a handset app, is currently available in English, French, Swahili and Hausa. More languages are in the process of being added to ensure all subscribers receive official, authentic and the latest football news in their preferred language.

Chuks Egbuna/GEE

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