By Subscribers to Kwese TV in Nigeria have expressed dissatisfaction at the abrupt manner in which the satellite television company ended its pay TV services.
Some of them said they only noticed that something was amiss when only 14 channels were showing out of over 65 channels on the cable TV.
Subscribers, who just purchased the TV decoders, also lamented that it was a waste of resources, expressing regret at the decision they made.
Kwese TV ended the subscription to its satellite TV on November 1, 2018, leaving a collection of Free-to-Air channels, Kwese Sports and religious channels at an annual rate that has not been fixed.
Econet Media, the parent company of the brand, however, promised to refund customers who had subscribed to its various bouquets in November.
The company, through its customer care handles, also asked customers to get its new box called Kwese Play, to access its digital streaming services.
It said it had repositioned its business to focus on mobile entertainment business namely Kwese Free Sports, Kwese iflix and Kwese Play that would be delivered via broadband infrastructure.
A Kwese TV subscriber in Lagos, Mustapha Olaiya, said, “I am surprised at the sudden cancellation of Kwese TV. I wasn’t expecting it. I was confused when I saw only 14 active channels. Why will Kwese not inform its customers of this development because I only saw the news online?
An Ibadan-based Kwese TV subscriber, Chidiozie Nnabugwu, added, “I just got the decoder three months ago. So, what should I do with it? What will happen if the company changes its decision on the new Kwese Play offer?”
Other subscribers took to the social media to express their concerns over the non-responsiveness of the Kwese’s customer care lines and social media handles in the country while many raised unanswered questions.
One of them, Chuks Nwanne, wrote on Facebook, saying, “Seriously, if there’s an award for a company with the worst customer care service in Nigeria, then Kwese will win it for keeps. You can’t reach them on phone, you can’t reach them via mail, you can’t get them through online chat and social media. They are practically unreachable.”
One Twitter user with the handle, @silverdoll, said, “It will be nice if these businesses can share with us the things that caused them to crash so soon.”
“I’m surprised Kwese couldn’t make it,” Irede @tflourish, twitted.
However, an analyst, Temidayo Sesan, said Kwese TV’s sudden shutdown was destined to happen as its on-demand and pay-as-you-go model pitted it against competitors.
He said he had observed that new entrants into the cable TV business often presented unsustainable service offerings in an attempt to take over from the incumbent.
“The pattern is the same every time. They arrive, they promise a lot of things, they deliver for a couple of months, struggle for even more months and eventually shut down,” Sesan added.
“DStv according to some is ‘overpriced’ but given the shutdown of the Kwese TV structure, I can’t help but wonder if they are actually overpriced for a reason. MultiChoice, DStv’s parent company, has been around for twenty-five years and remains the longest standing television entertainment company in this part of the world.”
A new cable television firm, Telcomm Satellite TV, that started operations in October last year, recently lamented that it was facing attacks from other operators in the industry.
TStv, which had earlier offered 200 channels on its decoder last year, recently said it would only be able to offer 45 channels.
Punch
