Econet Media’s Pan-African broadcast network, Kwesé, is establishing new ways of delivering broadcasting services in a manner that will transform and change the African narrative.

Mr. Zachary Wazara, Econet Media Executive, stated this while addressing journalists during the opening of the Ultramodern Kwesé Customer Experience Centre, in Lagos recently.

Wazara said: “we are really establishing new ways of delivering broadcasting and I hope and pray that for you as people in the media you will be able to take advantage of this, and begin to put together that African narrative in a manner that will transform our continent. We are introducing competition, we are introducing a platform for the African narrative.”

He explained that, their focus is to make Kwesé a sports and entertainment destination for Africa, adding that Kwesé is about inspiring people and presenting them in an authentic sense.

He noted that Kwesé free sports (KFS) is a digital terrestrial television that is currently in 23 countries, and have signed up broadcasting agreement with Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON) to bring the world cup to vast majority of Nigerians, ordinarily not covered by pay TV.

“In Nigeria, for the world cup our KFS business has signed up with BON, so that, instead of 4.5 million pay TV customers watching the world cup, we can now take the world cup to between 100 and 120 million people.

“So the free to Air business is really intended to extend the reach to the population in Africa, recognizing the fact that, not everyone can afford pay TV.

“Now, the key thing is why KFS, because all sports when presented has always been on pay TV and KFS gives an opportunity to the average African out there to watch Formula 1, to watch NBA at the highest level, to watch boxing at the highest level, to watch every single sports that is out there, like crickets, soccer, rugby and so on, because Africa is been restricted to only soccer.

“But if our people are going to be integrated into the global economy, if our children are going to find opportunity like the Europeans, they have to take up careers in sports, look at Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, both have made over 100 million US dollar because sports was for them a career.

“But the average African doesn’t see sports as a career, unless you do athletics, what we called running here in Africa.

“So our objective with this is to begin to introduce different types of sports at international level, so we can also inspire our kids to say listen , it’s not just about can you run, but there is tennis, there is rugby, and so on.

“That is primarily why we introduce KFS and we are with this in 23 countries.” he stated.

Wazara stated that, their objective is also to make sure that anyone out there can have satellite television, while pointing out that their satellite TV business has the best picture clarity in the market.

In his words, “we’ve got Kwesé TV which is our satellite business, which competes against other brands that you know out there in the market.

“In Nigeria the footprint of our satellite TV is that we’ve got the best clarity, than any other satellite TV.

“So our objective is to do with satellite television what was done with GSM prepaid.

“To make sure that anyone out there can have satellite television.

“I’ve been so inspired looking in Botswana, in Zimbabwe and in Zambia, to see mud houses and seeing a kwese dish sticking out there and a little solar panel on the side.

“That’s the kind of thing that we are looking at, where people are seeing a polar bear for the first time because there is national geographic, where people are seeing whales and other things for the first time.

“So we are excited to be working on this as part of the transformation of the African narratives.”

Wazara, also noted the addition of an App called Kwese iflix, created for mobile phone users, who like to watch content on their devices.

Ngozi Madueke-Dozie, General Manager, West Africa, Kwese iflix, speaking at the event said that the app also has live streaming specially for the Nigerian market.

She added that the Kwese iflix app subscription plans for watching contents ranges from a daily pass, to a 3-day pass, to 7-day pass and monthly subscription.

“Therefore, the subscription plans will attract different customers depending on what they can afford and how many days they want to tune in to their favorite programmes.

“The 30 days pass goes just for 1000 naira. The user gets to watch all the contents they want.

“At the World Cup for instance, 64 matches will be played. With just a 1000 naira, you get to watch all these matches on your phone.

“The seven days pass is 500 naira, the 3 days, 250 naira while the one day pass is 150 naira,” she stated.