Andrew Pons, Director of
Marketing, Exset
Many people
will know about the Digital Divide, the gap between those who have the ability,
or economic wherewithal, to take advantage of the information age via
appropriate technology and those that don’t. Many often limit the definition to
those who can and can’t access the Internet.
While this
can be a valid indicator, in some ways it’s easy for people to dismiss that issue
as for many Internet access still hovers between luxury and utility. In reality
in the developed world we’re now reliant upon the Internet for many things: within
a very short space of time we’ve built access to that information into our
daily lives.
As markets continue
to move at a rapid pace through technology cycles, the issue deepens: it is not
access to the Internet per se that is the issue necessarily, but that key
information that it contains.
Looking in
a little more depth there are other issues. What becomes apparent is that
owning a computer – or having access to one – doesn’t necessarily equate to
accessing the Internet. In high-income countries, according to a major ITU
report entitled Measuring the Information Society 2011, the discrepancy between
computer ownership and Internet usage is negligible: both figures hover around
90 per cent for 15 to 74 year-olds. This is the case in Iceland, Norway and
Sweden for example. Indeed in some countries – Japan being a case in point –
more people access the Internet than own computers. But if we look at Senegal
then the figures are not only lower but the discrepancy appears: 34 per cent
used a computer in 2010 but only 13 per cent accessed the Internet. Similar
situations exist throughout the developing world. – the reports states that in
Sub Saharan Africa less than 16 per cent of homes have internet access.
Before we
lose ourselves in a world of statistics, there’s another key factor that the
ITU report highlights. It says, “Data on Internet use by level of education
show that Internet usage is much higher among people with higher levels of
education. A higher educational level generally also implies higher income and
greater computer literacy, both of which are important factors that drive Internet
use.”
At the same
time, what’s interesting to note is that according to a report from Dataxis
Intelligence, television penetration across one of the key developing regions
of the world – Africa – is set to reach 50 per cent by 2015, or 123 million
television households. A report from Digital TV adds that by 2017 there will be
50m TV household in Sub-Saharan Africa. Television – specifically digital
broadcast technologies – is able to fill a very important role where the
Internet doesn’t (and may never) reach.
As the ITU
clearly states in a 2010 article about switching to digital, “Broadcasting is
one of the most economic and influential media for delivering content such as
news, education and entertainment. Broadcasting also contributes to narrowing
the Digital Divide. Now broadcasting is on the verge of a revolution
that is expected to affect not only broadcasting itself but also other media.
The transition from analogue to digital broadcasting will create great
opportunities for the provision of information and communication technology
(ICT) applications and multimedia services, including higher quality video and
interactivity.”
So what are the challenges facing operators and
governments wanting to roll out digital television services in developing markets?
Monetisation – or cost, depending on the viewpoint - alongside the skillsets
required to pull together what can be complex technological solutions are very
real hurdles. Let us be clear: we are talking about both about pay-TV here, be
that DTT, DTH or cable and monetising the switchover to digital systems. The
question arises that if you are not set up to supply service to the higher
income sections of society then how can you monetise your business? As Rapid TV
News said earlier this year, “Premium DTH services such as the top DStv
packages are currently affordable for just a fraction of African homes, mostly
in South Africa…”
The switch
to digital TV provides both a very real challenge for developing nations as
well as a very real opportunity and this is where Exset – and its Digital
Monetisation System (DMS) - comes in. Can the switch to digital television help
to overcome the Digital Divide?
Exset is a broadcast technology and
solutions company founded in 2011. It focuses on emerging markets where localisation,
social and economic factors require a fresh approach. Exset understands that
pay-TV needs a new monetisation model for emerging markets in order to succeed.
That’s why it created Digital Monetization System (DMS) - a unique business and
technology model that makes pay-TV self-financing without depending exclusively
on subscriber fees for revenue. DMS bridges the gap between technology supply
and value-add service creation, facilitating digital television platforms that
can be monetised where previously virtually impossible. This allows populations
to benefit from new information and entertainment services while operators and
governments, when partnering with Exset, monetise digital switchover and assist
in bringing about social transformation.
DMS allows operators to publish a
series of images and text services (alongside the TV content) in the form of
pages that can be used to bring in new revenue to operators through new
advertising apps. The TV portal that DMS facilitates allows operators to offer
these new services to its customers through a series of apps: a magazine app
allowing viewers to read magazines; shopping apps allowing instant purchase of
goods to be done via mobile phone text service; public service apps updated and
informed by government departments to keep the population up to date with
information bulletins on public services being offered. Exset delivers a new
business model via revenue generating technology with the experience and
understanding of working within these markets.
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