As levels of smartphone penetration soar in Africa, broadcast media industry experts are calling for content distributors to consider the mobile platform.

Joseph Hundah, President and Group CEO of Econet Media, said that the growing number of mobile phone users in Africa and improved internet speeds in some countries offers a sweet spot to distribute content.

"More and more, consumers are looking for premium content in the right format which can be delivered effectively in a low bandwidth capability and importantly at reasonable rates. This is the sweet spot between television and mobile technology, offering world class content that consumers want, which doesn't consume a lot of data and therefore won't break the bank," Hundah said.

He added that, "To remain competitive in this ever changing, ever evolving media landscape broadcasters have to be where the consumer is and carry content which is tailored for mobile consumption."

Econet Media announced its partnership with Safaricom to launch Kwesé TV, a mobile OTT service that grants access to premium content such as sports and entertainment channels. The deal announced in April this year will see 4G users access content from Kwesé TV at tailored data plans.

"Of course data costs are currently quite high, so to combat this we are partnering with various mobile network operators across the continent to offer bundled data packages which include access to our mobile app which offers sports and entertainment content," Hundah told ITWeb Africa.

"It is worth noting that we anticipate that broadband prices will decrease in the near future and we are in a position to take full advantage of this shift," he added.

Hundah said that the future of content distribution for broadcasters has changed as the real volume and potential now lies in mobile. If content distributors get the formula right, there is greater potential in mobile than in traditional platforms.

He is aware of the introduction of international players in the regions and said that broadcasters need to deliver compelling local content to be able to edge out global competitors.

"The next phase is for us to launch our satellite service in some of these markets targeting English-speaking Africa first. We have the Kwesé App which is available for download across most of Sub-Saharan Africa which has enabled us to make our comprehensive content offering available to thousands of consumers. We will also be introducing a broadband platform business called Kwesé Play in the near future," he concluded.