Agilitee Africa, a South Africa-based electric vehicles manufacturer which is on the verge of entering the Malawi market, has launched a new generation smart television (TV) set that uses solar power.
The launch comes two weeks after the firm announced its intention to enter the Malawi market to produce electrical vehicles (EVs), in an expansion drive that has seen the green-tech firm investing in a number of African countries.
The TV set has become Africa’s first digital video broadcasting second generation terrestrial receiver and has already received approval of International Organisation for Standardisation, a body which creates and publishes industry standards.
Agilitee chief executive officer Mandla Lamba said in an e-mail response on Thursday that the TV can work through solar and its battery never loses power.
He said: “For those not connected to the national power grid don’t need to worry since the new TV model can work through solar and its battery never loses its power.
“Which means you can play it in the desert even in cold weather as the battery powers as it is being used. This is the first of its kind in Africa even by an African company.”
The 2018 Population and Housing Census showed that in Malawi, less than 11 percent of the population are connected to the national electricity grid, leaving the majority to fend for their own sources of energy.
Lamba said the firm has already supplied the new product to Rwanda, Nigeria and South Africa.
“We will do the same in Ghana, Zambia, Kenya, Malawi, Zimbabwe, eSwatini, Tanzania and Namibia in January and start selling on February 1 in all these countries,” he said.
A Lilongwe-based information technology expert Yohane Mwandira on Thursday described Agilitee’s latest TV set as modern and advanced, saying it will benefit the country in terms of technology transfer once the company comes and invest in Malawi next year.
Formed in 2019, Agilitee is a South African-based firm that manufactures and resells new electrical vehicles, vehicle charging facilities and related products.
Apart from bringing new generation smart TV set, Agilitee Africa electrical cars and motorcyles business is bound to create 1 000 jobs in one and a half years.
