One97 partners with Glo Telecom to bring audio entertainment on mobiles to West Africa

Wednesday December 10, 2014 , 3 min Read

India-based One97 Communications Ltd has partnered with Lagos-based Glo Telecommunication to provide VAS service in Benin.

“The association with One97 Communications is another step in our endeavour to consistently raise the bar in the telecom space in Africa. We have collaborated with the company to bring out a host of attractive services in a bid to provide our users with an experience at par with the best worldwide standards,” said Femi Ogunlusi, COO, Glo Benin.

As mobile phones become primary entertainment devices for consumers across Africa, mobile operators are creating tie-ups to meet subscribers’ demands and increase their revenue. One97 has offices in India, the Middle East and Africa.

One97 and Glo launched an audio story portal yesterday to offer users the option of subscribing and listening to immersive stories on-the-go. The subscription-based services include beauty alerts, health, football, and ‘thought of the day’ quotes. The high-quality content will be delivered to customers daily through an automated voice call & SMS. Consumers will also be able to dial in and get access to the content of their choice at any time as per their convenience. Additionally, the audio story portal offers users the option of listening to immersive stories on-the-go. The collection of audio book offer stories with a wide appeal across multiple age groups and genders. Earlier this year in September, One97 has partnered with Tigo in East Africa.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma, CEO, One97 Communications, said, “The partnership with Glo comes on the back of other successful associations we have recently fostered in the African continent. The market of West Africa holds a lot of potential for superior telecommunications service providers. Together with Glo, we aim to deliver the most superlative offerings to the company’s users and help Glo build a much greater brand affinity and loyalty in Benin.”

One97 Glo Telecom — Kiran Vasireddy from One97 told YourStory, “We have recently launched some of our innovative Voice / SMS services with Glo Benin, which includes story portals. Story portals in Tigo, Tanzania, have been a huge success and in fact customers consuming these services have doubled in the last one quarter in Tigo alone. We are also working with some of the operators in Africa on the discovery of such innovative services by rolling out self care and campaign management platforms.”

Kiran added, “The demand for Voice & SMS based services in Africa have been growing consistently, which keep us pushing towards innovation, and story portal is one such example. Other than story portals, we have recently launched services like health tips, mFarmer and other lifestyle based services in a few African countries.”

Besides subscribers, this phone-based audio entertainment works for brands as well. In India, Unilever was able to reach villagers across several panchayats via cellphone audio. They were able mix product ad plug while providing people of rural areas a dose of entertainment. Users make a toll free call that will trigger a callback, which will playing Salman Khan's dialogues from his blockbuster film ‘Ek Tha Tiger’, along with his endorsement of a brand. Audio ad with a coupon offer will be plugged with the story.

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