TSTV to Begin Full Operations November 1

By Dipo Olowookere

November 1, 2017, has now been fixed by the management of Telecom Satellite Television (TSTV) for the commencement of its full operations.

The new player in the industry had earlier fixed October 1, 2017 for commencement of its operations in Nigeria, but since its launch last Sunday in Abuja, by the Minister of Information and Culture, Mr Lai Mohammed, Nigerians have not been able to buy the decoder.

TSTV is a Direct-To-Home (DTH) broadcast service that came to be as a result of a multi-transponder agreement between ABS and Telcom Satellites TV to deliver DTH to Nigeria on the ABS 3A satellite. The service is set to air more than 100 TV channels a first and grow to above 150 with time.

Addressing journalists in Abuja at the weekend, Managing Director of TSTV, Mr Bright Echefu, explained that the delay was due to the ongoing of its distributors.

According to him, more than 3,000 persons applied to be the firm’s distributors, but on 750 have been cleared so far.

He noted that the careful screening was to prevent sabotage, assuring Nigerians that they would soon begin to enjoy the company’s services.

“We had applications from over 3,000 individuals who want to be our dealers, so far we have cleared about 750 of the dealers.

“We are currently conducting due diligence checks on our dealers. We do not want a situation where individuals posing as dealers buy up our decoders and go dump them somewhere,” Mr Echefu said.

​Mr Echefu added that within the next two weeks, the verification and full accreditation of dealers would be completed and the decoders would be rolled out.