INDUSTRY WATCH
ERTU MANAGEMENT
WANTED TO INTRODUCE
NEW SERVICES, SUCH AS
ON-LINE STREAMING AND
VIDEO ON DEMAND.
P
ublic broadcaster Egyptian
Radio and Television Union
(ERTU) was doing well as
one of the oldest and most
important broadcasters in
Africa but its management feared it was
being left behind by the digital revolution. modern audience used to social media
and mobile devices, had affected its
position and persuaded management that
it was time for a new direction. Specifically,
ERTU wanted to stop losing money
because of the loss of viewers, listeners
and advertisers to other broadcasters.
To remain competitive, ERTU
management wanted to introduce new
services, such as on-line streaming and
video on demand. The solution seemed clear: find a way to
provide a superior experience for viewers
and enlarge the customer base. But it
was important to management that the
solution be practical in the context of an
economy struggling with inflation. So,
management focused on these objectives:
So the broadcaster, in partnership with
the Egyptian Ministry of Communication
and Information Technology (MCIT),
turned for help to the Egyptian managed
service provider Link Datacenter, the
Egyptian development house Link
Development and Microsoft Azure.
As a result, ERTU is now running an
infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS)
environment on Azure to provide
new digital services in a secure, stable
environment and has already realised
an increase in revenues and a significant
reduction in costs.
ERTU has provided culture, arts and
heritage programming to Arabic-
language speakers since 1934, and has
been a regional leader with a global
reputation. It broadcasts on more
than 20 TV stations and more than 40
radio stations in almost all languages
in the Middle East region. Among
its holdings are a number of leading
media companies, such as Sono Cairo,
Egyptian Media Production City, Nile
Sat and Nile Radio, as well as several
global partnerships.
But changes in media consumption,
in particular, the changing habits of a
www.intelligentcio.com
• Offer audiences broad choices
• Minimise the cost of releasing,
managing and delivering the services
• Monetise media services and generate
new revenue streams
Khaled El Attar, Director of Informatics for
the Egyptian Ministry of Communication
and Information Technology (MCIT),
the Egyptian government ministry
that serves as a technical advisor for
all governmental sectors, said: “The
vision was, let us use the Internet to
reach every single place, so Egyptians
can have access. We are also trying to
use technology to improve services, so
students in kindergarten through grade
12 can have good access to the library
using the Internet.”
“We really needed a dynamic
infrastructure and a robust platform,”
said El Attar. “That’s why the choice
was Azure.”
Microsoft Azure fitted the bill on all
counts, especially because of how it
manages open source options and
because of its resource flexibility. And it
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