Leading South African operator Vodacom has launched Video Play, an app that utilises spare network capacity to download and cache selected video content at a reduced cost.
Claiming it has "pioneered a new way to watch video via mobile", Vodacom said Video Play allows to pre-select their content, which is then downloaded during low-demand periods, typically overnight.
As opposed to billing per unit of data, Video Play bills in minutes, not megabytes, which allows customers to easily control and manage their spending.
It's the perfect way to watch uninterrupted video at a reduced cost," Vodacom said.
When installed on a mobile device, Video Play offers access to a selection of mobile videos from content producers such as eNCA, eTV, Urban Brew and MobiTV. The initial available content consists of music videos, with a focus on gospel, local and African music. Vodacom said this selection will be expanded to include a variety of other content in future.
Once in the app, users are able to select the videos they want to watch and add them to their download queue. The app then manages the download of the content to the device, with the customer able to watch the videos offline at any time once they have downloaded.
Users are required to buy a pre-paid bundle of minutes within the app to use the service, with charges only applied for the minutes of the video they download.
Video Play is initially available for free in the Android and BlackBerry app stores, with Vodacom saying other platforms will follow shortly.
