STARTIMES HITS 1.5m SUBSCRIBER BASE IN JUST 3 YEARS

StarTimes, the famous paytv station of NTA-Star Tv Networks Limited, has commended the enthusiasm shown by both the Government and Nigerians to migrate from analogue to digital broadcasting.

Speaking to Nigeria CommunicationsWeek during the Company’s staff get-together in Lagos, Mr. Justin Zhang, general manager StarTimes, said that the Company in the last three years has recorded over 1.5 million customers due to its customer-friendly operations and inclusion of more local contents and channels.
“After we launched in Nigeria in 2010, we started with aggressive marketing and we did not take issues related to customer care light. Today we have launched in 31 States in Nigeria. Currently, we are the only Company with digital TV licence operating in the country. And we are the only company with the capacity to cover the whole country, basically before the 2015 deadline for digital broadcasting.

“When we launched, only few people knew about StarTimes; we had our mast in Lagos Abuja, Port Harcourt and Ibadan. But through the efforts of our staff we have been able to push our operations to other parts of the country. Secondly, Nigerians want digital services; before we launched, no company could afford to them the local contents in customer-friendly fees. So, far, we can say that we have met the requirements of both the government and the people of Nigeria. For the future, we are still looking at increase the contents,” he said.

Still on market penetration, Zhang said that, “Nigeria’s population is big; therefore it is a big market. When we launched in Abuja, many customers reached out to us, beckoning on us to open operations in their areas. And being the partner with the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) has given us the confidence that we have government’s backing to move on with digitization.

“Just like the Nigeria Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has emphasized, digital broadcasting is the in-thing now. So, in working towards the 2015, the government can be assured that we are ready for the migration, especially in providing coverage to the whole country. It is our social responsibility to help the government meet the 2015 target. The migration will not be of benefit to pay Tv companies, government will derive huge benefits from it and the viewer are going to be served better”.

He said that StarSat, the Company’s satellite TV shall be launched next year. “The essence is that more Nigerians are getting interested in digital TV stations; they want to watch more local channels and we want to reach them. Meanwhile there are certain areas that the signals may not reach, so we want to penetrate those nooks and crannies with the StarSat satellite television signals,” the GM added.

While commending Federal Government’s efforts towards improving on the business environment, he however noted that the persistent electric power failure is still affecting their operations, especially as budget for diesel is escalating.

He promised their numerous customers of improved services, adding that StarTimes call centers are open 24/7 to ensure the customers get maximum satisfaction. He added that the Company’s services team has stepped up their operations and more distributors are coming on boarder, particularly now it targets other cities.