A new application for smart devices which enables users to view video using a constrained network connection, such as Edge data connections available on Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) networks prevalent throughout Africa, has been developed by newly formed video streaming technology company Tuluntulu, says founder and CEO Pierre van der Hoven.

The aim of the company is to enable the streaming of educational video content across Africa, eliminating the digital divide caused by constrained connectivity, low bandwidth, high data costs and high device costs on the continent.

“If you want to commu-nicate digitally in Africa, you have to use Edge because there is no other connectivity available. Using this to stream video to people in Africa is what Tuluntulu set out to achieve.”

A research group was established at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research under Dr Keith Ferguson and the members developed a system that used the capabilities of Android smartphones to receive streaming video over a GSM network.

“Smartphones from Huawei, ZTE, Samsung and Google that cost less than $100 have already had significant success in Africa. Using the Tuluntulu application, the owners can now stream video to their phones, even when they only have access to a GSM network.”

Van der Hoven encouraged people to download the application from the Google Play store and view videos on connections slower than 50 kb/s.

notes that the cost of smart devices is a hindrance to the use of video in Africa and that the cost of data is a significant deterrent for users.

“The fact that we can stream video to users using constrained bandwidth also means that the data usage is low. “We estimate that an hour of video using our application would cost about R5.

“For us, the true test of our success would be, for example, when a child or student in a rural area uses it to access video materials from free online courses, including tertiary courses, such as massive open online courses provided by nonprofit online education institution Khan Academy or if we get feedback from a rural farmer who has watched sports live using his phone.”

Tuluntulu focused on Android platform devices, owing to the open-source nature of the system and the large number of free applications available to Android users.

“We already have free educational video material available through the application and our aim is to distribute educational material free.”

Tuluntulu also aims to make its video streaming application available for commercial channels to distribute video in Africa. The Tuluntulu application already has an African fashion channel available free of charge.

Further, as Google Analytics has combined with the back-end of the Tuluntulu streaming platform, marketers can see exactly how many people viewed specific videos, enhancing the marketing value of channels.

“The need is there. The content is there and only the last-mile reach to the rural areas is needed to unlock access to educational con-tent. This can now be done using the GSM networks,” concludes Van der Hoven.