Silicon & Software Systems (S3) has won a contract with MultiChoice, the largest pay television operator in Africa, which will see its software being used to provide a mobile digital television service.

It is a strategically important deal for S3 as MultiChoice, which has operations in 47 countries, is owned by MIH, a global media conglomerate whose interests span pay-television, internet properties and print titles. "This deal is pan-African today but the deal is actually with MIH so it is potentially global," said John Maguire, general manager of S3's consumer mobile group.

MultiChoice is using S3's onHandTV software development kit (SDK) to develop a mobile television service based on the DVB-H standard.

MultiChoice already has commercial DVB-H services operating in countries such as Namibia, Kenya and Nigeria.

The technology, which enables digital TV to be received on mobile phones, laptops, portable games devices and "any device with a reasonable display", according to Mr Maguire, is expected to be central to bringing coverage of the 2010 World Cup to remote areas of Africa.

Mobile operators and network equipment providers are seeking to aggressively roll out mobile TV services to developing nations in Asia and Africa.

"From our comfortable position in the West it's hard to appreciate but people in those markets are making a choice between buying a mobile phone or television," said Mr Maguire.

"If you can give them a TV on the mobile as well it's a no-brainer for them."

Mr Maguire said the deal was structured so that the more subscribers Dstv - the MultiChoice brand for the service - signed up, the more revenue S3 would receive. He said S3's software would be deployed initially to allow television to be viewed on PCs with the addition of a low-cost hardware add-on.

Mr Maguire said S3 had been developing the turnkey solution for MultiChoice for more than a year but the Irish trade mission to South Africa which is being led by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was the catalyst for them to go public on the relationship.

"It shows these international trips by Ministers have a tangible benefit for smaller businesses like us," said Mr Maguire.