This new platform wants to give you free airtime for having its app on your phone

folarin okunola

February 3, 2016 10:58 AM

Additional airtime can be earned by completing in-app offers and, for a limited time, users will be able to earn N100 for every friend they sign up.

According to media reports, Sliide Airtime, a privately-held technology company with offices in Lagos and London, has announced Nigeria as the launch market for its Sliide Airtime service which provides users with a new way to access content from their mobiles and earn free airtime while at it.

The app uses information entered by users about their age and interests (e.g business, celebrity, football, style, music), to send them personalised content when unlocking their phone, including news and stories handpicked from media sources both in and beyond Nigeria, and updated constantly.

Users will also see a selection of branded content delivered through a partnership with Twinpine, one of the largest mobile advertising networks in Africa.

The company says users of the Sliide Airtime app will receive free airtime simply by having the app on their phone. Additional airtime can be earned by completing in-app offers and, for a limited time, users will be able to earn N100 for every friend they sign up.

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“Sliide Airtime is a new and innovative way of funding mobile Internet access in countries where data charges are high. In Nigeria it will help overcome the problem of expensive data and gives advertisers a smart new way of targeting and reaching consumers with customised content,” said Corbyn Munnik, Sliide Airtime’s founder and CEO, who was born in South Africa and grew up in Botswana where his family still lives.

“Accessing the internet from a mobile device is expensive for many Nigerians. The Sliide Airtime app provides them with a straightforward way to subsidise their surfing and get access to content that they not only find useful, but is carefully targeted and non-intrusive,” says Adrian Wood, a former CEO of MTN Nigeria, who is on the board of Sliide Airtime.

The Sliide Airtime App has been tested in the UK where the company received financial backing from a number of organisations including UKTI (UK Trade and Investment) and Draper Dark Flow (a Silicon Valley based VC fund for African startups) established by Tim Draper who has investments in Skype, Baidu, and Hotmail.

The company expects to expand into South Africa, Ghana and Kenya later in the year.

The Android app will be available to Nigerian users from the Google Play Store or directly from sliideairtime.ng from March, 2016.

folarin okunola

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