OnMobile ties up with Airtel Africa for powering football services

NEW DELHI, INDIA: OnMobile Global Ltd. a leading global telecom value-added services (VAS) company with presence in 59 countries, has tied up with Airtel Africa to power a service called Airtel Football across the continent.

As part of this engagement, OnMobile has partnered with Goal.com, who hold the rights for live match alerts for English Premier League matches in Africa. Airtel subscribers will benefit from updates on their favorite football clubs and live match alerts.

This association has evolved incredibly achieving an adoption rate of 11.6 million subscribers across 11 countries in Africa since its launch in August 2012 making Airtel Football one of the most all-encompassing operator-branded mobile football subscription services.

This service is an offshoot of OnMobile's and Airtel's vision to reach out across subscriber segments - from the bottom of the pyramid users to Smartphone users as well as high-value customers. This also supports Airtel's objective of adapting to the enormous proliferation of Mobile Internet users across the continent.

"Football in Africa is a television phenomenon - especially on paid channels. A lot of subscribers across the continent do not have access to television but love Football nonetheless. OnMobile is excited to power this service, through our partnership with Airtel, a leading global operator. Our aim is to directly touch the lives of millions of sport lovers and offer our consumers the best possible user experience," said Biswajit Nandi, VP, Africa and Middle East, OnMobile.

Andre Beyers, chief marketing officer, Airtel Africa, said: "Football is the greatest passion in Africa. Our vision is to enable and take the game to all fans, even those without access to television. Combining Airtel's customer reach and knowledge with OnMobile's strong technology, we believe that we can take the world of football closer to the fans."

The football service which is accessible through SMS, IVR, USSD, AP, Web and, very shortly a handset app, is currently available in English, French, Swahili and Hausa. More languages are in the process of being added to ensure all subscribers receive official, authentic and the latest football news in their preferred language.