ShowMax partners with SEACOM for faster content delivery in East Africa

The agreement provides for SEACOM to host ShowMax caching servers in Nairobi, allowing for peering to take place with local internet service providers (ISPs).

Explaining what this means for subscribers, ShowMax Head of Distribution Mike Raath said: “The net effect of placing caching servers in Nairobi is that customers can pull video content from much closer to home, which means faster response time and less buffering. This move also lays the groundwork for further expansion in East Africa as we continue to rollout ShowMax in new countries.”

In addition to delivering an improved customer experience, this agreement also brings benefits to local ISPs in the form of lower costs. Explaining this, Raath said that customers will receive ShowMax content directly rather than having to pay transit costs from servers based thousands of kilometres away. “This is yet another way we’re working to make sure that ShowMax is the internet TV service listening to the needs of consumers and partners in Africa,” he added.

Africa’s VOD space has attracted a lot of new players in the past year and a half with ShowMax, emerging as one of the leading providers. It’s going up against Netflix, the global VOD giant which opened up its services across Africa in January 2016 and has also been signing its own peering arrangements with broadband entities like ZOL, a Liquid Telecom subsidiary. Ericson in 2015, also launched their VoD platform known as NuVu for the African Market. Ericsson first partnered with Airtel Nigeria to roll out the platform in Nigeria. Other IPTV outfits vying for the VOD throne include Amazon’s Prime Video and Kwese TV.