Hungama Mobile ties up with UAE business enterprise Koohiji Group

Compnay News

MUMBAI, September 25

South Asia’s premier mobile entertainment company Hungama Mobile and the Dubai-based diversified business enterprise Koohiji Group have formed a business alliance to provide Middle East and North African (MENA) wireless consumers access to a wide range of legitimate entertainment content. Users will be able to download the latest Bollywood songs from legitimate music and entertainment sources for personal use on their handsets.

As per the agreement, Hungama Mobile has appointed Digital City, a new strategic business unit established by the Koohiji Group, as their exclusive distributor for Bollywood and Indian digital entertainment content.

Describing the alliance as a significant step in the new media era, Mr. Saleem Mobhani, Chief Operating Officer of Hungama Mobile said, “The demand for Bollywood and related entertainment content has shot up dramatically over the last couple years, and Hungama Mobile being the world’s largest distributor of South Asian entertainment content, MENA consumers will have access to over all South Asian digital entertainment content, including content in 14 different languages”.

“We are continually working to forge strategic relationships with key digital entertainment players. We develop and deploy content across the spectrum of Music, Images, Video, Games and Applications for our current relationship with 52 Operators and Partners in over 20 countries such as North America, UK and Europe, South Africa, Australia, Germany, South East Asia etc. and Digital Entities such as iTunes, Napster, Yahoo and others to extend Hungama Mobile’s presence in new media entertainment globally.” said Ali Hussein, Head of Hungama Mobile for MENA.

Speaking on the occasion SS Rajkumar, vice chairman and CEO of the Koohiji said, “So far, users in the UAE and in the region have been deprived of choices, up-to-date and easy access to Indian entertainment content for their mobile devices. As exclusive content distributors for Hungama Mobile, Digital City will bridge that gap and serve as a one stop shop for all content resellers and mobile operators offering digital mobile entertainment across the UAE and MENA region”.

For Hungama Mobile, the tie up with Koohiji Group is yet another milestone following the recent tie up with the Apple Inc-promoted iTunes, where the music of the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Don was made available worldwide on the iTunes Music Store. The tie up further establishes Hungama Mobile’s growing bandwidth in helping the Indian entertainment industry reach out to the global audience.

About UAE and the Indian Entertainment Industry

Indian entertainment industry, particularly Indian films have always had unprecedented success in the Middle East, especially the UAE. While the economic boom in the region has been primarily led by growing oil exports, countries across the Gulf have, over the years, increased focus on industrial diversification. In UAE, of the 26 percent GDP growth last year, more than 60 percent was non-oil based, and 50 percent came from the service sector including media and entertainment services. The growing interest in Indian entertainment industry also drove the UAE government to host the IIFA Awards in Dubai earlier this year. The annual Dubai International Film Festival which began in 2004 also provides a strong platform to the Indian Entertainment Industry to showcase its boundless talents and expertise in the field of film making.

About Koohiji Group

The Dubai based Koohiji Group began operations in 1985 by as a trading house dealing in consumer electronics and communication products. Over time, Koohiji Group has emerged as an efficient marketing operation with a diverse portfolio of products including telecommunication & office automation products, wireless communication products HVACR equipment and auto spare parts. At present, the Koohiji Group runs its operations under four strategic business units - Komtell LLC (Telecommunication), Globalnet LLC (Wireless Communication Products), Technocare LLC (Customer Care), and Royal Gulf LLC (Air-conditioning). Digital City, the exclusive content distributors for Hungama Mobile is the fifth strategic business unit of the rapidly expanding group.

About Hungama Mobile

Hungama Mobile, the largest aggregator, publisher and developers of Indian Entertainment Content globally, deals directly with various movie production houses and music labels for digital promotions of their content. The company has an exclusive agreement with Super Cassettes Industries Ltd, Sony Pictures Television International and other production houses that form an integral part of the content catalogue which currently have over 100,000 songs, 25,000 Images and 15,000 Video titles. Hungama Mobile delivers innovative content such as Meet and Greet with Celebrities, movie merchandise, and movie tickets to drive content consumption for their partners. Hungama Mobile is the first ever organization to offer a movie zone on a Mobile handset. They are also the first to stream an entire movie on a wireless network and are the only Indian company to deals directly with Apple I-tunes. Key achievements include being the only Indian company to be nominated for three International awards in the ‘Best Music’, ‘Best Mobile Entertainment Marketing’ and ‘Best Mobile Marketing Service Provider’.

About Digital City

A part of the Dubai based Koohiji Group; Digital City will address the growing demand for digital entertainment content and serve as a one stop shop which meets the needs of all mobile operators and content re-sellers across the MENA region. Digital City will offer a diverse range of digital entertainment content including Arabic, Hollywood, Bollywood, Indian, Pakistani, Philippines, Persian, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan and African content to suit the preferences of all users across the MENA region.

For further information, please contact

Vaishali Killawala, Hanmer & Partners

Tel no: 9819630256

Email – vaishali@hanmerpr.com