MTN zero-rates FrontRow data

Awaits a comparison between Showcase, Netflix, that other company and FrontRow.
 
But this is good.

I just wish they would zero rate music streaming services like Google All Access, Simfy, rdio etc.
 
But this is good.

I just wish they would zero rate music streaming services like Google All Access, Simfy, rdio etc.

Look, we all love to hate MTN, but expecting them to zero rate products other than their own is a bit unreasonable.

At the end of the day they're a business and as such aim to make a profit.

They can zero rate [insert their own VOD service here] because they will earn income from the VOD subscription.

But asking they to zero rate something like Google Play Music, from which they don't earn any income would be a bad business decision. All their infrastructure and data needs to be paid for some how.

If they're were to structure some kind of revenue sharing agreement with Google that would be a different thing, but I highly doubt MTN are even remotely that innovative.
 
Personally I didn't think twice about signing up, I have no ADSL, or other internet access available other than 3G, and lets face it, data costs would be prohibitively expensive for streaming and I am not willing to pay full DSTV subscription for only 10% of the content I am interested in.

This is a welcome change, regardless of how old or new content is, there is always some thing I haven't seen or always wanted to see.
It might not measure up to what others are offering or will offer in future, but more than happy to part with R120.00 bucks a month and not have any data costs to worry about.

Really couldn't be bothered what people think about the service, it work's great, looks good, and was an absolute charm to setup and run.Had more issues with testing other services, than with FrontRow.

Pretty much a happy customer.
 
But asking they to zero rate something like Google Play Music, from which they don't earn any income would be a bad business decision. All their infrastructure and data needs to be paid for some how.

If they're were to structure some kind of revenue sharing agreement with Google that would be a different thing, but I highly doubt MTN are even remotely that innovative.

In the first world you have providers like T-Mobile that zero-rate music streaming services. One day we might have first world options in our third world country.
 
Look, we all love to hate MTN, but expecting them to zero rate products other than their own is a bit unreasonable.

At the end of the day they're a business and as such aim to make a profit.

They can zero rate [insert their own VOD service here] because they will earn income from the VOD subscription.

But asking they to zero rate something like Google Play Music, from which they don't earn any income would be a bad business decision. All their infrastructure and data needs to be paid for some how.

If they're were to structure some kind of revenue sharing agreement with Google that would be a different thing, but I highly doubt MTN are even remotely that innovative.

I agree with you. Even on the Free MTN Frontrow package streaming is free which means you only pay R27 for rentals. I can't see how MTN is making money on it since they still need to pay right for the content.

Zero rating Frontrow puts it a very big step ahead of it's competitors. I mean you can stream your stuff on the go without worrying about data costs. It is a big deal and I think MTN knew this if it wanted front row to stay a float.

I tested a rental on a MTN Prepaid LTE sim and it works like a charm. No buffering at all but to be expected since LTE speedtest showed speeds of 28Mbps.
 
Last edited:
I agree with you. Even on the Free MTN Frontrow package streaming is free which means you only pay R27 for rentals. I can't see how MTN is making money on it since they still need to pay right for the content.

Zero rating Frontrow puts it a very big step ahead of it's competitors. I mean you can stream your stuff on the go without worrying about data costs. It is a big deal and I think MTN knew this if it wanted front row to stay a float.

Definitely.

Unless they're just trying whatever they can to gain market share rapidly, even if it means losses in the short term.

Without this zero rating of the data, I really don't see how they can compete with Netflix/Hulu/Showmax. To be honest, personally I don't even consider FrontRow to be "real" a VOD service in SA.

Like wizardofid said though, this works for him. And if the price stays as it is and they slowly build a better content catalog, then I can see it working for a lot of people in SA.

Stable ADSL/Fiber isn't easy to come by, I know our exchange is congested as hell during peak times, so something like this definitely has it's place.

However, whether they can do it sustainably over the long term remains to be seen.
 
In the first world you have providers like T-Mobile that zero-rate music streaming services. One day we might have first world options in our third world country.

I too have a dream.
 
I too have a dream.
While it may not stream a music channel, they do have a bucket load of music vids, this too is great.

https://www.mtnfrontrow.com/#/browse/FrontRow Club/Music

However there is this, not sure if it's available in ZAR, they do provide 150mb which is not a lot, but considering that an audio stream would take a lot less data you shouldn't feel the pinch that much.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mtn.softclient.music.baseline
 
Last edited:
Awaits a comparison between Showcase, Netflix, that other company and FrontRow.

Well one thing Showmax does not have is movie rentals. Frontrow at least got some of the latest DVD releases up for rent, Showmax only got old movies . So at this stage, Showmax = Series . Frontrow = Movies. I wish they can integrate BoxOffice with Showmax, it's rather silly to have movie rentals on a totally different platform than the series, i mean it's all Naspers.
 
Now this is interesting i might actually pass the word around to some mates who could use this. Not having to worry about data is a big deal
 
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter