Hong Kong tycoon to launch Vuclip in South Africa; Will compete against Netflix and ShowMax

The Hong Kong billionaire Richard Li targets to compete with Netflix and ShowMax in South Africa. Vuclip, a video on-demand streaming service will be launched in South Africa through his company PCCW.

PCCW Media Group under PCCW Limited will launch Vuclip, a video streaming service in South Africa next week. It was owned by Richard Li, a Hong Kong billionaire. Vuclip will compete with Netflix and ShowMax. Two reliable sources divulged it on Bloomberg.

PCCW Media Group, a leading entertainment provider in Hong Kong purchased Vuclip, a VOD (video on-demand) service on March.

Known for its VOD service, Vuclip is headquartered in California and has offices in Asia. The video service was founded by Dr. Nickhil Jakatdar in 2008. He still remains in the position after the purchase. Vuclip is currently streaming in six countries and has seven million subscribers every quarter.

As of the moment, the streaming service is available in United Arab Emirates and Asia. Vuclip teamed up with 13 regional payment carriers to accommodate its mobile subscribers. It provides movies, TV shows, sports news and music videos in 25 languages.

With PCCW's major control of Vuclip, the service will be extended to South Africa.

Its launch went after ShowMax's which was made accessible in South Africa last month. ShowMax provides VOD subscription for R99 a month. Business Tech specified that ShowMax has more than 750 TV shows, 850 seasons and 19,000 episodes.

Alongside, Africa will have to wait until next year to catch NetFlix on their devices.

According to Forbes, Richard Li has a net worth of $4.6B. He is 48 years old. Half of his assets came from his father, Li Ka-Shing, who is one of the richest men in Asia. His father transferred his company, FWD, to him. It is an insurance firm that operates in Hong Kong, Macau, Philippines and Thailand.

It says that the majority of the people utilizes mobile services and landline subscriptions are limited in South Africa. Thus, Vuclip's enter into the region is in right timing as streaming services want to access the area.