afrol News, 31 August - The leading pay-TV operator in sub-Saharan African, MultiChoice Africa, has boosted its capacity leases with Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL) to support further expansion of its pay television and Internet services in sub-Saharan Africa, the company discloses.

With the lease of four new Ku-band transponders on Eutelsat's SESAT 1 satellite, MultiChoice Africa is now capable of extending the range of digital channels it markets to subscribers in Central and East Africa as well as its offer of residential and corporate Internet access.

The new capacity allows MultiChoice Africa to use a total of 13 transponders on Eutelsat's W4 and SESAT 1 Ku-band satellites which are co-located at 36 degrees east.

Through capacity leases with Eutelsat since 2000, the leading pay-TV operator has built a subscriber base of over 450,000 homes across 48 countries in sub-Saharan Africa who already receive the company’s DStv platform of more than 70 TV and 40 audio channels catering for English, Portuguese, Indian and French-speaking communities.

The Chief Executive Officer of MultiChoice Africa, Eben Greyling, says the agreement put his company in a strong position to fulfil its commitment to subscribers in ensuring that they receive the world's best channels through DStv.

"The new agreement with Eutelsat ensures that we remain at the forefront of content and technology in digital satellite television. Our leadership in using the best technological platforms means we are able to continue delivering the most reliable signal delivering premium services in Africa," Greyling said.

Eutelsat Commercial Director, Olivier Millies-Lacroix, says, "we are very pleased to further cement our longstanding relationship with MultiChoice Africa through new capacity leases on the SESAT 1 satellite which, together with our collocated W4 satellite, is ideally located to serve growing video markets in the African continent."

MultiChoice Africa, a wholly owned subsidiary of MIH, is a pioneer in providing premium television entertainment through its Dstv bouquets. It has been operating in Africa for 12 years. MultiChoice Africa’s main operations include world-class subscriber management services and digital satellite television platforms.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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