MTN has announced the launch of music streaming service MusicTime, which it calls "a world first offering" from the team at Simfy Africa.

MusicTime is a time-based music streaming service, offering users premium trending and locally relevant music through partnerships with key music labels and providers, according to an MTN statement.

Last month MTN group CEO and president Rob Shuter announced that the telco had bought music-streaming business Simfy Africa.

"The MusicTime offering is set to revolutionise Africa's music industry with a fully inclusive music streaming offering that includes a countdown timer, top trending music and data included in the price," MTN said in a statement today.

The telco explained that the timer clocks down as users listen to music.

"We have worked hard in getting this breakthrough model to our customers. Data costs and the high costs of the top end music streaming products mean that the majority of our customers don't have an affordable option for digital music and Simfy Africa came with the solution we were looking for," said Jacqui O'Sullivan, executive for corporate affairs at MTN SA.

MusicTime is available as either a 120 minutes offering for R5 or a 300 minutes offering for R10, both offerings valid for seven days from purchase. Prepaid customers can purchase music time using airtime. All new users also receive 60 minutes free upon their MusicTime App download, valid for seven days.

MTN says the MusicTime catalogue boasts millions of tracks that are available for streaming on Android and iOS.