Astro On-The-Go now on smartphones, tablets

It delivers non-stop entertainment on smartphones, tablets and laptops 

KUALA LUMPUR: Astro Malaysia Holdings Sdn Bhd is targeting to penetrate 65% of households in Malaysia with its new service, Astro On-The-Go, which delivers non-stop entertainment on smartphones, tablets and laptops.

Chief executive officer Datuk Rohana Rozhan said: “Our aspiration is to penetrate 100% of Malaysian households. We think there is headroom to grow and we believe we can target at least 65% of total household penetration.”

Currently, Astro's penetration in Malaysia is between 50% and 51%, with 3.1 million customers.

Rohana said Astro would capture the remaining market with Njoi, its subscription-free satellite television (TV) service. Njoi is available for all consumers nationwide, offering 18 TV and 19 radio channels.

“We've got content and we have customers and individuals in the households. Our aspiration is to address all of them. This is either through Astro, Njoi or Astro On-The-Go,” she said.

Rohana said the new service was an extension of value to Astro's customers. At the moment, there are 11 channels available. Astro On-The-Go addresses the video-on-demand element. Once it has been bought, with the entitlement period, customers can pick and choose where to watch it.

“For non-Astro customers, it is to address the individuals' needs. So it will be both a new subscription and an impulse purchase. They will be able to subscribe to various packages on their devices as opposed to (watching them on TV in) their living rooms,” Rohana said.

Commercial charges for the new service have yet to be announced.

Astro On-The-Go will be launched in three phases, of which the first will see all existing Astro customers having a free preview until Aug 31.

The second phase, starting Sept 1, will see only Astro B.yond Internet protocol TV customers and those with more than one decoder entitled to the service. Astro On-The-Go will also be available to Android devices in this phase.

In the last phase, the service will be offered to all Astro customers and subsequently non-Astro customers by year-end.