The South African launch of Nokia’s TVs has been delayed until February 2022 due to various challenges faced by the distributor, Ellies. Ellies had previously said that Nokia Smart TVs and other TV products would launch in South Africa before the end of the year. It revealed the revised timeline in a statement on Tuesday announcing its interim results.
“One exciting prospect relates to the recently concluded agreement between Ellies Electronics and StreamView to exclusively distribute Nokia products in South Africa and various other African countries from February 2022,” the Ellies Group said in a statement.
Ellies Group CEO Shaun Prithivirajh said the agreement between Ellies and StreamView allows the company to bring a wide range of Nokia-branded smart products to the South African market.
The agreement marks StreamView’s first foray into the Southern African market. StreamView designs, develops, and manufactures official Nokia-branded smart TVs, set-top boxes and related products for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
However, Ellies is currently recovering from a significant blow, having recorded a decline in revenue of 24.6% from May to October 2021. The general trading environment in this period has remained constrained in the wake of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the unrest and related looting, and supply chain constraints,” Ellies stated.
Its management is confident that despite the Group’s challenges, a weakened economy, and growing unemployment, Ellies is well-positioned to capitalise on increasing demands for alternative energy solutions. Ellies could also cash in on South Africa’s migration from analogue to digital terrestrial television (DTT).
According to Ellies, it is estimated that three million South African households are still expected to make the transition before the deadline. Over the past 24 months there has been a clear culture shift in the business and the Board, together with Management, have done a lot to align employees to the new focus,” Prithivirajh said.
“Our improved cash position, enhanced governance structures and a settled management team bode well and we look forward to working together with our new shareholders in Imvula to steer Ellies to sustainable profitability,” Prithivirajh stated.
Source: mybroadband
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