Dubai: The Gulf’s largest telco operator Saudi Telecom Company (STC) has become the region’s first to offer over-the-top (OTT) TV service on multiple screens (tablets and smartphones).
“We launched this service a month ago on multiple screens and we are witnessing a very good response from customers,” Khalid Abdullah Al Osaimi, multimedia service development (inVISION) section manager for home sector, told Gulf News.
STC offers 180 linear channels with 30 HD channels on its interactive TV service (inVISION).
He said the network expansion has led to an increase of 326 per cent in the number of InVISION subscribers in the third quarter compared to same period last year, and 27 per cent compared to the previous quarter.
“To expand STC’s footprint as a true multimedia provider, we had to invest in OTT to target low bandwidth customers,” he said.
Right now, STC offers only “video-on-demand through OTT to its tablet and smartphone customers.”
“We will offer live internet protocol television [IPTV] channels on fibre optics only to its TV customers,” Al Osaimi said.
STC’s customers using fibre optic services (homes and businesses) increased 722 per cent in the third quarter compared to same period last year.
“Our intention is to reinforce our leadership in our home market, at the same time, capitalise on opportunities for expansion. Being a customer-centric company, we are therefore aligning our processes and strategies with the primary goal of enhancing the overall customer experience,” he said.
