Telkom has lifted the lid on the LIT TVC 100 Android-powered media box it intends offering to customers.

Last week, the telecommunications operator revealed that it intends offering zero-rated streaming of selected services to customers on its mobile and fixed networks. The services include YouTube, Netflix, DStv Now and Showmax on the video side, and Google Play Music, Simfy Africa and Apple Music on the audio side.

The Telkom LIT deals include LIT TV, offering unlimited ADSL, fibre and LTE SmartBroadband customers zero-rated access through an Android media box, which allows customers to turn their TV into a smart TV, pre-loaded with content channels from its content providers.

LIT TV will be launched in late September, alongside Telkom’s planned summer marketing campaign.

The box supports Chromecast, allowing customers to cast music and video from their Android- or iOS-based phones and tablets. It is Google certified and approved by communications regulator Icasa.

Customers can search for a topic and the box has built-in “intelligence” to aggregate content from all the content channels related to the search topic, Telkom said at the launch last week.

It said customers who sign up for Telkom’s Unlimited Home 8/10Mbit/s and faster ADSL and fibre offerings, as well as LTE SmartBroadband Wireless 50GB and 100GB packages on promotion, will receive a free LIT TVC 100 (while stocks last). The offer is also available to existing customers upgrading to those plans. The box can also be bought for R1 099 or R49.99/month over 24 months.

TechCentral can now reveal that the box runs Android 7.1 and is powered by a 64-bit Amlogic S905X quad-core Arm processor (the A53), paired with a penta-core Arm Mali 450 graphics processing unit.

It has 2GB of SDRAM and 8GB of Flash storage. There’s support for 100Mbit/s Ethernet as well as Wi-Fi of the 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac variety and Bluetooth 4.1. Full specifications are available in the table above. — © 2017 NewsCentral Media