An AIM-listed Irish company has entered into a deal with a Kuwaiti telecoms company that will see its mobile TV technology made available to over 8.8 million mobile phone subscribers in North Africa and the Middle East.
Dublin firm Vimio plc’s business partner, Kuwait-based Noutique, has signed an agreement with Wataniya Telecom to provide live content to mobile subscribers across the region.
“The agreement signed between Noutique and Wataniya is excellent news for Vimio and demonstrates that partnerships with specialist operators in key territories are the foundation for significant long-term revenues,” explained Vimio’s chief executive Malachy Harkin.
“We are rapidly developing a significant presence in the Middle East and North African region and we continue to look for further opportunities to add content and distribution channels,” Harkin continued.
“Our long-term goal is for Vimio to become recognised as an industry standard in the distribution of live content to mobile telephones,” he said.
Noutique is a specialist telecoms corporation in Kuwait owned by a leading member of the Al Sabah family and is licensed to sell Vimio’s Live TV software for the delivery and management of live TV and content for mobile telephones.
Noutique’s agreement with Wataniya will give Wataniya’s subscribers access to a wide range of live TV channels and traffic channels which show traffic situated at five major road junctions in Kuwait City. Subscribers will be charged between US$12 and $20 per month, of which Vimio will receive a substantial percentage.
Wataniya has been a driving force in increasing the mobile communications market in Kuwait to more than 90pc of the population.
The group serves more than 8.8 million customers in countries with a combined total population exceeding 92 million, including Algeria, Iraq and the Maldives.
By John Kennedy
