New venture will enable UAE and MENA region users’ to gain legitimate access to Bollywood, Hollywood and related digital entertainment content on their mobile phones
The Dubai based Koohiji Group and Hungama Mobile, South Asia’s premier mobile entertainment company, have announced a new business alliance to provide UAE consumers access to a wide range of legitimate online entertainment content. As per the agreement, Hungama Mobile has appointed Digital City, a new strategic business unit established by the Koohiji Group, as their exclusive distributor for Bollywood, Hollywood and related digital entertainment content.
Speaking on the occasion SS Rajkumar, vice chairman and CEO of the Koohiji said, “So far, users in the Middle East have been deprived of choices and easy access to the latest digital entertainment content for their mobile devices. As exclusive content distributors for Hungama Mobile, Digital City will bridge that gap and serve as a one stop shop for all content resellers and mobile operators offering digital mobile entertainment in the UAE and MENA region.”
“World wide, non-voice service continues to be the key source of growth for Operators,” explained M. Nadar, general manager of Digital City. “Data-centric services, especially with mobile entertainment content, are the way to increase ARPU,” he said.
According to Saleem Mobani, COO of Hungama Mobile, demand for Bollywood and related content has shot up dramatically over the last couple years. “Hungama Mobile is the world’s largest aggregator of Indian entertainment content”, said Mobani. “As exclusive content distributors, Digital City will have access to over 80 per cent of all Bollywood and Indian digital entertainment content.”
Hungama Mobile’s global digital distribution network covers 50 operators and partners across 20 countries including USA, UK and South Africa. “Digital City will be our exclusive distributors across the UAE and MENA region,” said Mobani.
Hungama Mobile delivers entertainment content across the spectrum to wireless subscribers on JAVA, BREW and I-MODE platforms. It holds the exclusive global license to distribute all Bollywood and related audio and visual content for T-Series and Sony Pictures Entertainment amongst others. It provides digital entertainment content in 14 Indian languages and its offering includes the James Bond catalogue.
The range of content available from Digital City includes ring tones including poly tones and ring back tones, MMS, still and animated images, theme wallpapers, screensaver, games, applications, video and audio clips, and interactive content including movie trailers, synopses, reviews and previews. Digital City will enable users to download latest Bollywood songs from legitimate music and entertainment sources for personal use on MP3 players, PC’s and home music systems legally.
About Koohiji Group:
The Dubai based Koohiji Group began operations in 1985 by as a trading house dealing in consumer electronics and communication products. Over time, Koohiji Group has emerged as an efficient marketing operation with a diverse portfolio of products including telecommunication & office automation products, wireless communication products HVACR equipment and auto spare parts. At present, the Koohiji Group runs its operations under four strategic business units - Komtell LLC (Telecommunication), Globalnet LLC (Wireless Communication Products), Technocare LLC (Customer Care), and Royal Gulf LLC (Air-conditioning). Digital City, the exclusive content distributors for Hungama Mobile (Mobile Content Distribution) is the fifth strategic business unit of the rapidly expanding group.
About Hungama Mobile:
Hungama Mobile, the largest aggregator on Indian Entertainment Content globally, deals directly with various movie production houses and music labels for digital promotions of their content. The company has an exclusive agreement with Super Cassettes Industries Ltd, Sony Pictures Television International and other production houses. Their content catalogue currently has over 100,000 songs, 25,000 Images and 15,000 Video titles. Hungama Mobile delivers innovative content such as Meet and Greet with Celebrities, movie merchandise, and movie tickets to drive content consumption for their partners and is the first ever organization to offer a movie zone on a Mobile handset. They are also the first to stream an entire movie on a wireless network and are the only Indian company to deal directly with Apple I-tunes. Their key achievements include being the only Indian company to be nominated for three International awards in the ‘Best Music’, ‘Best Mobile Entertainment Marketing’ and ‘Best Mobile Marketing Service Provider’.
About Digital City:
A part of the Dubai based Koohiji Group, Digital City will address the growing demand for digital entertainment content and serve as a one stop shop which meets the needs of all mobile operators and content re-sellers across the MENA region. Digital City will offer a diverse range of digital entertainment content including Arabic, Hollywood, Bollywood, Indian, Pakistani, Philippines, Persian, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan and African content to suit the preferences of all users across the MENA region.
