Firms tap fibre network to offer video on demand

Fibre to the home concept provides high speed broadband Internet to homes allowing streaming of the latest shows and movies as they’re released globally. PHOTO | FILE 

By OKUTTAH MARK

In Summary

Fibre to the home

• Local infrastructure companies like Jamii Telecoms and Wananchi Online are now able to directly target users at home with online content through fibre to the homes (FTTH) networks.
• Subscribers get access to the latest shows and movies as they’re released globally.
• Content providers can learn from subscribers viewing patterns and recommend content based on what the subscribers already watched.

Investments in undersea fibre optic cables by the government and the private sector seven years ago have given Kenya an opportunity to reap from global content providers providing online streaming of movies, music and films.

Local infrastructure companies like Jamii Telecoms and Wananchi Online are now directly target users at home with online content through fibre to the homes (FTTH) networks while subscribers get access to the latest shows and movies as they’re released globally by companies like Netflix and Hulu.

John Kamau, general manager Jamii Telecoms, told the Business Daily that the firm is currently in talks with several content providers from the US to offer subscription-based Internet movies, music and films in Kenya.

“The broadcasting and entertainment industries are set to change. People are being compelled by technology to adopt new models of accessing movies and films. It is on this note that we are engaging with a number of content providers,” Mr Kamau said.

The FFTH concept that provides high speed broadband Internet through fibre connections to the home is still new in Kenya but has so far been rolled out in the affluent suburbs of Kilimani, Nyari, Runda, Karen and Muthaiga in Nairobi and in Nyali, Tudor, Kizingo, Shanzu and Mtwapa in Mombasa.

Internet search giant Google has put a cache server in Nairobi and a point of presence in Mombasa, which has encouraged more African Internet and content providers to exchange content locally.

The Google Global Cache is a system that holds copies of content at the edge of the network closer to users rather than sending multiple copies across the Internet. The system allows YouTube, searches and other services to be available locally, which means reduced delays for users because there is no international transit involved.

In areas where there is higher traffic, Google sets up points of presence (PoP). Google has also been working closely with Seacom, one of the fibre optic cable providers, to host some of the servers and allow providers to exchange content at a neutral point.

“When a user requests a piece of content that we have in our cache, rather than serving the content from our data centre – which may be some distance away from the user – we instead locate the closest cache to the user and serve the request from that cache,” says Dorothy Ooko, Google’s communication and public affairs manager for East and Francophone Africa.

Ms Ooko says this benefits the user with faster content, benefits the ISPs in that they don’t have to carry the content across their network and benefits the Web as whole by limiting the number of copies of identical content being sent across long-distance and international Internet connections.

Content providers could also learn from their subscribers viewing patterns and recommend content based on what the subscribers already watched.

Local content is also acting as a catalyst to drive users. Recently, Matrix trilogy shot a new science-fiction series for online TV network Netflix (home of critical hits like House of Cards and Orange is the New Black) called Sense8.

Sense8 is scheduled for release in 2015 and some episodes will feature scenes set in Nairobi as well as northern Kenya. The series will feature Kenyan actors Biko Nyongesa and Peter King. The show will follow eight strangers from different cultures and parts of the world who are connected telepathically, with the episodes focusing primarily on individual characters.

Currently, Kenyans accessing content from providers such as Netflix have to go through international content aggregators such as VPNtrafiic.com that charges around Sh445 ($5) to access content for one month, Sh891 ($10) for three months and Sh3,109 ($35) per year.

The Business Daily could, however, not establish whether the charges include subscription fees for the content or whether VPNtraffic.com has legal rights to rebroadcast content on behalf of Netflix or Hulu. Jamii Telecoms charges between Sh10,000 for 3mbps for broadband capacity that can be used by up to 10 users and Sh40,000 for capacity used by up to 40 users.