Ghana President Nana Akufo-Addo met with the President of StarTimes Group at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Monday during his stay in Beijing for the Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.
Mr Pang Xinxing briefly introduced Startimes’ operation in African market and noted that achieving “digital migration” of TV industry has been one of priorities for African countries, and StarTimes will provide a total “digital migration” solution for African countries, which includes financing and operation.
“I hope we can work together with the Ghanaian government to push forward the digital migration in Ghana.”
Pang said that the China-Africa Cooperation project, “Access to Satellite TV for 10,000 African Villages” that will be undertaken by StarTimes, is to be launched in Ghana very soon and he sincerely invited President Akufo-Addo to be present at the launching ceremony.
President Akufo-Addo spoke highly of StarTimes: “We welcome Chinese company, like StarTimes, to invest in Ghana and we believe that StarTimes and Ghana will forge a long –term partnership”.
He noted that both the project of “Access to Satellite TV for 10,000 African Villages” and “digital migration” will be beneficial to Ghanaians, which will expand people’s vision and promote economic growth of Ghana.
StarTimes launched its services in Ghana in October 2016 with the goal of providing affordable pay-tv services for everyone. StarTimes’ entry into Ghana has created employment, opened the market and created competition for consumers to have a choice and enjoy the competitive effect. StarTimes has become a force to reckon with in the Ghanaian pay-TV industry and is one of the fastest growing brands in Ghana.
The Project of “Access to Satellite TV for 10,000 African Villages”
On December 4th, 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced at the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation that China would implement satellite TV programs for 10 thousand African villages. The project, known as “Access to Satellite TV for 10,000 African Villages”, is part of China-Africa cooperation programs and is aimed at enabling African families in rural areas to have access to the digital signal with high-quality images and rich TV programs.
There will be around 10,000 villages in more than 20 African countries benefiting from the project of “Access to Satellite TV for 10,000 African Villages”. For Ghana, 300 villages are included in this China-Africa cooperation project.
Africa’s leading digital TV operator, StarTimes, has contracted the program and is to accomplish the project under the guide of Chinese and African governments.
StarTimes
StarTimes is the leading digital TV operator in Africa, serving nearly 20 million users with a signal covering the whole continent and a massive distribution network of 200 brand halls, 3,000 convenience stores and 5,000 distributors. StarTimes owns a featured content platform, with 480 authorized channels consisting of news, movies, series, sports, entertainment, children’s programs, etc. The company’s vision is “To ensure that every African family can access, afford, watch and share the beauty of digital TV”. StarTimes achieves this by combining satellite and terrestrial DTV systems as well as OTT services to provide an open and secure digital wireless platform. The company provides a robust signal transmission service for public and private broadcasters, offers consumers outstanding Pay-TV programs, mobile multimedia, wireless Internet connectivity and convenient online services.