By 
By Nwakaego Alejemba
Telecomsat Limited (TSTV Africa) is back. In a press statement signed by its Managing Director /CEO, Bright Echefu, the satellite TV broadcast and Internet company said it had successfully overcome its unforeseen obstacles to ignite the kind of competition it had sought in Nigeria’s payTV market largely dominated by South African Multichoice’s Digital Satellite TV (DStv).
“I am happy to inform Nigerians that TSTV is back live and direct but this time under the watch of Abba Father. With our successful acquisition of five (5) units of 35.5MHz transponders last two weeks on Nigcomsat through our collaboration with Intertel, Federal Ministry of Communications and Nigcomsat, TSTV can now offer Nigerians the true meaning of video entertainment.
“Our TSTV has successfully migrated to Nigeria Communication Satellite. All channels in Full HD. No one does that. More channels are being added daily. Guess what! TSTV management in appreciation to everyone has decided that 45 TSTV Premium HD channels will be available for free for another one month as we don’t intend to encrypt the channels now.
“You can use any dish at all, including the ones you are using for other operators to track Nigcomsat today and lets enjoy premium entertainment together” said Echefu in a statement that also announced its partnership with the government owned satellite company: Nigcomsat.
TSTV had announced plans for an October 1, 2017 launch to coincide with Nigeria’s Independence Day celebration in a market entry fostered on the theme of freedom to enjoy better and cheaper payTv services.
It had offered carrots that included a lower entry price and a monthly subscription window with a Pay-As -You-Go (PAYG) offerings which could allow subscribers make 200% savings on their monthly PayTV budget.
But the pricing war it had promised to unleash never happened. TSTV blamed the competitor for waging war against its market entry. Echefu hinted at this in his statement below:
“From the date we announced TSTV, it has been fight all the way. I doubt if a week passed without us quenching one fire or the other. We didn’t anticipate that there would be war. We were also not trained to fight in the arena we were pushed into.
“The kinds of weapons our enemies would later contend us with, showed they had stocked their armoury waiting for a time like now. We may not have their kind of money, neither their kinds of weapons, ”connections” and networks but one thing I sure know we had more than them was a determined spirit and a steadfast God. A God who doesn’t fail.
“It has not been easy one bit. Our struggles drained us financially and pitched us against all good meaning Nigerians, subscribers and dealers that believed in us. We were wrestled even down to our satellite providers but our God is ever faithful.Today 20th of August, 2018, I am happy to inform Nigerians that TSTV is back live and direct but this time under the watch of Abba Father.”
TStv plans to offer internet and broadcast services all in one package similar to what Zuku offers its subscribers in Kenya to effectively tame DStv in that East African country.In Nigeria, which is one of the South African company’s biggest markets, DSTV has been around for about 22 years. However, the company has often been in the news negatively with accusations that it was ripping Nigerians off with its inflexible subscription conditions and unfriendly quality of service (QoS) attributable to its monopoly status in the market.
