Subscribe
  • Home
  • /
  • IOT
  • /
  • Vox enters IOT, digital entertainment market

Vox enters IOT, digital entertainment market

Kgaogelo Letsebe
By Kgaogelo Letsebe, Portals journalist
Johannesburg, 02 Feb 2018
Vox CEO, Jacques du Toit.
Vox CEO, Jacques du Toit.

Integrated ICT and telco Vox has outlined business plans for 2018, which include an expanded fibre network, an IOT platform, as well as an array of integrated digital entertainment products.

Speaking at the Vox business partner conference held in Pretoria yesterday, chief executive officer Jacques du Toit said following last year's R550 m investment in optic fibre infrastructure, the company has increased its coverage area from 3 700km^2 to 18 000km^2.

"We are starting to see the results of a strategy which was put in place two years ago. Last year, we connected 14 000 fibre to the home (FTTH) customers and passed 26 000 homes. It also connected 8 000 fibre to the business (FTTB) customers and passed 11 000 businesses. In 2018 we hoping to continue to invest in infrastructure, which it will spark the development of FTTH in more remote areas where we have deployed FTTB solutions," he said.

According to Du Toit, the company should no longer be seen as just an ISP, but rather a fully-fledged infrastructure provider through its acquisition of Frogfoot Networks. "The launch of the National Long Distance Fibre Project in 2016 is one way in which we are working to ensure that towns and cities outside of major metropolitan areas are getting access to high speed fibre, and wireless connectivity. We want to be seen as a technology partner to customers, delivering a variety of products built on our connectivity infrastructure."

Digital entertainment

Du Toit further outlined that the telco will be diversifying into the digital entertainment space following talks with Kwese TV, Discover Digital and European-based Mubi.

DEOD is an online video-on-demand service which recently launched in South Africa. Mubi is a film platform that integrates a subscription video-on-demand service, a database, and an online magazine known as The Notebook.

"We are working with Discover Digital to make DEOD available to our customers and estimated pricing would start at R34 per month. One might ask why a telco is venturing into the digital entertainment arena but we see it as an opportunity to enable an e-commerce platform where we be a middle man and make our customers suppliers and in so doing increase our revenue," he said.

IOT push

The telco will also be embarking on a plan to launch a smart IOT platform which will offer a suite of products including an animal and asset tracker, a water and light metering system as well as an on-board vehicle diagnostics (OBD) system.

"The IOT platform will monitor various devices connected to the network and analyse trends to earmark any matters which may arise from observed changes."

Du Toit says the animal behaviour tracking device will launch by the end of February, the metering services in March, and that the on-board diagnostics will be launched in April.

Share