JOHANNESBURG, Aug 17 (Reuters) - South African mobile phoneoperator Vodacom is in talks with pay-TV giant Naspers to deliver movies and television programmes to mobiledevices, it said on Monday, part of a search for new sources ofincome from fast-growing data consumers.
"We are on record as exploring a partnership with Naspers todeliver video content onto mobile devices," said TshepoRamodibe, head of corporate affairs at Vodacom. "Thesediscussions are still ongoing."
Vodacom and its closest domestic rival MTN Group are struggling to grow sales from voice calls at home as theyslash tariffs to defend market share.
In response, they are rolling out high speed networks tomeet strong demand for data as customers increasingly use theirsmartphones and tablets to browse the internet, stream videosand download applications.
For Naspers, a company that went from an Afrikaans languagepublisher into a $54 billion e-commerce and pay-TVmultinational, the deal will give its pay-TV business a newdistribution platform.
The deal would also establish a competitor for Netflix, a U.S. TV and film streaming service that has said ithad plans to enter South Africa with its video-on-demandservices by year-end.
($1 = 12.9129 rand) (Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Editing by Digby Lidstone)