Emerge has completed its proprietary integration to begin billing customers in those six additional countries through major telecommunication networks.
This initiative follows the successful soft launch of Arcade X in South Africa with the Value-Added Service (VAS) model, and adds more than 350 million to the total population to which Emerge is able to market the Arcade X platform and generate advertising revenue.
Greg Stevens, Emerge’s chief executive officer and executive director, commented, "Securing access to 29% of the entire continental African population for Arcade X is an enormous achievement. This is a fascinating time for Emerge with the completion of proprietary integration enabling the company to expand into six additional emerging African countries, further enhancing our monetisation strategy to generate significant advertising revenue across the African continent. Our recent success in South Africa has provided the leverage needed to enter new emerging markets and gain significant traction, and I am pleased that Emerge is now able to effectively integrate its technology in those markets."
Emerge's Arcade X technology is a first in African emerging markets, which provides the company with a stronghold in the region by being a service provider that caters to mobile gamers and corporations, offering a platform in which gamers can play socially and competitively for prizes and advertising space for targeted audiences.
With completion of its proprietary integration, Emerge is now in a position to roll out its Arcade X technology into international markets at a much faster pace and realise its broader monetisation strategy in Africa. The completion of proprietary integration has enabled Emerge to bill customers seamlessly through all major telecommunication networks and follows the recent successful soft launch of the Arcade X technology in South Africa.
The phased approach in entering new African markets will take the form of initial integration and exposure, with the goal of gaining significant new subscribers to Arcade X while increasing engagement times. This will be followed by monetisation using Emerge's VAS model and advertising space by presenting opportunities to potential corporate clients using geolocation capabilities built into the Arcade X technology.
The total population of Africa is approximately 1.2 billion people, with 960 million mobile subscriptions across the continent. Internet penetration is currently at 18% with 216 million Internet users. These statistics provide Emerge with longevity on its business model and support the overall company strategy in positioning itself as the service provider of choice in emerging markets where the market has remained unsaturated for some time.
It is predicted that smartphone penetration will grow at 50% year-on-year, which presents Emerge an opportunity to enter these markets during their infancy phase to enhance the organic growth of its Arcade X technology on the continent.
