du welcomes Al Kass TV to its broadcast ecosystem

Dubai, UAE,  19 March 2014: du, the Middle East’s fastest-growing telecommunications service provider, is pleased to announce that Qatar-based Al Kass TV, the government broadcaster of free-to-air channels, has signed an agreement with the company for streaming services through Akamai Technologies.

Live streaming of the television channels will be delivered over the Akamai Intelligent platform. Through the partnership, Al Kass TV services will be available on any connected device, including mobiles and PCs, meeting customers’ demands to access TV content online with 24/7 high quality channel streaming. With Akamai’s advanced media solutions, user experience is improved with minimal latency and buffering.

“This new partnership is an endorsement of the depth and scope of du’s capabilities, how its well-established broadcast ecosystem can be used to the benefit of its customers,” said Mahesh Jaishankar, Vice President - datamena and Broadcast, du. “We look forward to working closely with Al Kass TV in our endeavour to continue delivering better value to our customers.”

Soeren Lindkvist, Vice President, Channel & Strategic Alliances  Akamai Technologies, EMEA, said: “We are committed to making it easier for companies to be successful online, and through this partnership we are llooking forward to helping al Kass TV viewers enjoy their favorite content wherever and whenever they want, and on whatever device they choose across the region."

“Expanding our reach to the maximum number of viewers is important for us, and du, in partnership with Akamai, allows us to do this,” said Essa Al- Hitmi, General Manager, Al Kass. “We chose to work with du and Akamai because of the high quality and reliability of the streaming services they provide, which will offer our viewers the optimal experience across multiple devices.”