Tigo Tanzania this week announced it will launch Deezer’s music streaming service on 24 January.
Available to customers who buy one of the operator’s prepaid data bundles, Deezer will give Tigo subscribers unlimited access to a 36 million-strong music catalogu e that includes local as well as international artists.
"Our goal is to impact the music industry by providing a platform that not only allows for easy access to content by local artists, but also train our musicians on important issues such as intellectual property rights and marketing," explained Tigo’s brand manager, William Mpinga, in a statement on Tuesday.
"This is our way of supporting local talent and growing the local music industry," he said.
Deezer partnered with Tigo’s parent company, Luxembourg-based Millicom, in October last year. As well as Tanzania, the agreement covers a further four African markets: Ghana, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Rwanda. Deezer launched in Ghana in November.
In addition, Millicom’s former CEO Hans-Holger Albrecht, who left the company at the end of 2014, is due to become Deezer’s new chief executive on 1 February.
Meanwhile, AT&T’s prepaid arm Cricket Wireless last week agreed to sell its Muve Music streaming service to Deezer for an undisclosed sum.
