Sam Media, Apigate form pact to explore opportunities in Asia

KUALA LUMPUR: Sam Media has formed a partnership with Apigate, a leading application programming interface (API) platform service provider under the banner of Axiata, to explore new opportunities in over-the-top media services across Asia Pacific.

Enabled by Apigate’s Direct Career Billing API, Sam Media will introduce a range of digital products such as mobile apps, video and music streaming services, mobile learning products and mobile games tailored to meet the increasing demand from Apigate’s 350 million users in the region.

Specialising in content monetisation and digital marketing, Sam Media also plans to invest RM32.46 million in product development, marketing and data science over the next three years.

The investment would enable mutual benefits, support faster delivery of services and provide richer content to a wide audience segment, said Sam Media.

Its digital content services had already been activated with Celcom in Malaysia, Dialog in Sri Lanka and Smart Axiata in Cambodia, it added.

Alexis Bartelds, chief executive officer of Sam Media, said the mobile segment in Asia Pacific would continue to grow as an increasing number of overthe-top media service players were interested in the region.

“As credit card penetration is still limited, we see great opportunities to leverage direct carrier billing, which offers consumers a secure and convenient payment solution,” he added.

Last year, direct carrier billing accounted for 17.4 per cent of the region’s payment methods for digital gaming, with an average transaction value of RM10.55.

Mobile network operators within Apigate’s footprint will now be able to add greater value by offering their end-users easy access to digital content that can be paid for via mobile phone bills.