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July 30, 2015 | Authored by: Vindicia Team

Lebara offers new OTT service for European migrants

Lebara doesn't just provide low-cost international calls anymore. According to Digital TV Europe, the telecommunications company has expanded into the over-the-top content market by offering a streaming service to viewers in Europe. Although anyone can watch the programming, it is specifically targeted toward migrants.

The new multi-ethnic content service, Lebara Play, will be available to viewers in the UK, Germany, Netherlands and France by the end of June. They will be able to watch more than 150 TV channels and 3,000 movies on their computers, mobile devices and select set-top boxes.

"Lebara Play will let viewers watch more than 150 TV channels and 3,000 movies."

"Serving the migrant community is at the core of everything we do at Lebara.  While the need to call loved ones is never far away, as new locations become home for our customers, different needs such as financial services and entertainment become more important," Lebara Group chairman and CEO, Yoganathan Ratheesan, said in a statement.

Although consumers can buy a subscription for Lebara Play, the company believes most viewers will use top-up vouchers to pay for the service to avoid a contract. To entice more people to subscribe, Lebara is offering two free months of the streaming service to those who sign up for a year.

To help distributors properly explain and promote its product, Lebara had them attend special training workshops for several months, according to the International Business Times UK.

Although there isn't any sports programming currently available on Lebara Play, the company is trying to get licensing for it.

"We're currently working on the licensing, but whatever content is available back home, unless if we are confident we can provide at least two thirds of the content, then there's no point as we're just doing what others are doing." Lebara Play CEO Aditya Thakur told IBTimes UK.

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Vindicia Team

Vindicia Team

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