African pay-TV giant Multichoice Group has confirmed that its Nigerian operations shed a staggering 1.4 million subscribers between 2023 and 2025, marking one of the most significant contractions for the company in any single market.

The development, disclosed Wednesday in its audited results for the financial year ended March 31, 2025, underscores the intensifying financial pressure on households in one of Africa’s largest economies.

This follows an increase in the prices of Multichoice’s DStv and GOtv subscription packages three times within the two-year period. The Group, in its report, blamed several structural and economic factors—most notably high inflation, repeated power grid failures, and widespread fuel scarcity—for the downturn in its Nigerian customer base.

But beyond those operational and infrastructural issues, analysts say the real drag is Nigeria’s harsh economic reality, which has steadily pushed pay TV off the list of essential household spending.

Multichoice’s earnings report lends weight to that perspective. According to the company, Nigeria accounted for 77% of the total 1.8 million subscribers lost across its Rest of Africa (RoA) operations during the review period. The RoA subscriber base dropped from 9.3 million in 2023 to 7.5 million in 2025.

“Inflation across key markets remained high (around 20% on a weighted average basis, above 30% in Nigeria and Angola) and caused pressure on customer spending,” Multichoice wrote in its report.

The economic downturn has deeply affected consumer behavior. A combination of job losses, reduced disposable income, and rising prices of food, fuel, and other essentials has made entertainment spending increasingly unsustainable for many Nigerian families.

While the company continues to lose customers, the rate of decline has shown some moderation. In 2024, Multichoice’s RoA subscriber base fell by 1.2 million—from 9.3 million to 8.1 million—a 13% drop. That pace slowed in 2025, with the base declining by 600,000 to 7.5 million, representing a 7% decrease.

However, Nigeria’s share of the loss remains disproportionately large. According to the company, the country alone contributed over half of the 2025 decline.

“Subscriber activity was further affected by power shortages across Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi, ongoing power and fuel shortages in Nigeria, and civil unrest in Mozambique,” the Group added.

Multiple Price Hikes Deepened Consumer Resentment

Even as incomes shrank, Multichoice Nigeria increased its subscription prices three times in the last two years—a strategy many say worsened its attrition problem. The company first hiked prices in April 2023, followed by another increase in November of the same year. A third increase was announced in April 2024 and implemented on May 1.

These price hikes sparked outrage among Nigerian subscribers and consumer protection groups, many of whom argued that the increases were unjustifiable given the worsening quality of service and economic hardship.

While the company has not announced another increase, many observers expect that Multichoice could consider it again, given ongoing currency pressures and a shrinking revenue base. But analysts warn that another hike could trigger even more losses.

Group Financial Performance Under Pressure

The toll from Nigeria and other African markets is clearly visible in Multichoice Group’s broader financials. Revenue for the 2025 financial year fell by ZAR5.2 billion (about 9%) to ZAR50.8 billion, mainly due to an 11% drop in subscription revenue driven by currency depreciation and lower subscriber volumes.

Trading profit dropped 49% year-on-year, down from ZAR3.8 billion to ZAR4.0 billion. A significant part of this came from a ZAR2.3 billion loss at its streaming arm, Showmax, and a ZAR5.2 billion foreign exchange loss.

“The past two financial years have been a period of significant financial disruption for economies, corporates and consumers across sub-Saharan Africa,” the company stated in its executive summary, adding that “macroeconomic pressures, piracy, social media, and cheaper streaming alternatives” had materially impacted overall performance.

A Shifting Landscape for Pay-TV in Africa

Multichoice’s struggles highlight a broader challenge for legacy pay-TV providers across Africa. As streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime expand into African markets and data costs fall, traditional satellite and cable TV face increasing competition—not just in pricing, but also in content accessibility and flexibility.

However, for now, affordability remains king.

With the customer base still in decline and macroeconomic conditions unlikely to improve soon, the big question remains whether Multichoice can adapt fast enough to retain relevance in one of its most strategic, yet most volatile markets.

A couple of years ago a colleague came to work panting and looking dirty. We were all curious and concerned. He sat at the gate and after catching his breath, he narrated how he was just robbed of his phone. As he walked to the office feeling good in the cool hour of the morning pressing his phone, he received a surprise kung fu kick on his back sending him prostrate in the air and landing like a bag of cement in the puddle. Immediately his phone touched the ground it was picked by the robbers on motorcycle. The only thing he saw was their back and the regret that it was avoidable.

Whether you are a fan of horror movies or not you should know about zombies. For context, let’s refresh our memories. According to the Oxford Advanced Learner Dictionary, a zombie is a person who seems only partly alive, without any feeling or interest in what’s happening. Another definition says a zombie is someone whose face shows no feeling, understanding or interest in what’s going on around them. And a third says zombies are not able to think. Sincerely, I do not know a more appropriate description for people who have become willing slaves to their mobile phones. This addiction has reached the level of a pandemic and public safety concern. People can no longer take their eyes off their phones as they walk or drive. This piece will not concern itself with content creation and what we do with our phones at home; that is our personal kettle of fish. Whatever is brought to the street or the public where everyone has equal right to walk and congregate must be a concern to all. Let’s look at the first category of zombies.

1. Zombie Pedestrian

Just after dusk one beautiful Sunday I walked an isolated path home. I was reliving the beautiful moments in my head of how Liverpool painted the blue sky over the Etihad red when I noticed a young lady few meters ahead. I could hear the sound of my footsteps and even the cry of the night bats but she had no idea there was someone behind her. She froze with fright when I stepped ahead of her. “Don’t be afraid”, I said. “It’s wrong of you to block your ears with an earpiece and at the same time pressing your phone on the road”, I added. She nodded in agreement. She could have been a perfect victim for criminals.

Another time I saw a child about two years old all by herself in the street. I quickly crossed the road and went to her because she was approaching the main road and there was a manhole in sight. Then I looked around and saw a young woman twenty meters behind the child pressing her phone. “Is this your child?” I asked. “Yes, I am the mother.” She replied. I had to contain my anger to speak mildly but there was fire in my eyes. As I continued my journey I said thank God she is not my wife.

2. Zombie Driver

One rainy Monday morning we were riding in the staff bus to work when suddenly we heard a loud bang accompanied by a forceful vibration. Lo and behold, it was a zombie driver who was pressing his phone and didn’t notice our break lights. His bumper fell off and his bonnet squeezed. This happened in the sight of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority officers. They helped him pushed his vehicle to the side of the road and radioed the towing van. The zombie driver willingly rode with us to the office because it was obvious to everyone he was at fault for the dent on our rear bumper. This was how he incurred avoidable expenses in three places because instead of focusing on driving, he focused on his phone.

3. Anti-social Zombies

Yes I know zombies are not social but just for emphasis. This category of mobile phone addicts is so conspicuous at social events. They brazenly display their lack of emotional and social intelligence by being fixated on their phones. They don’t give a hoot about the conversation on their table or what’s happening in the environment. Why then did they come out? They are virtually social with distant people and at the same time repulsive to the people around. Your words to them are like a golden ring on the snout of a pig, so, save your words. I recommend you even change tables.

Disadvantages of Being a Mobile Phone Zombie.

1. Personal Risks

I wouldn’t want to mention specific examples here of how some have lost their lives out of respect, they had headphones on while crossing the railway or highway. Didn’t the teacher in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 says there is a time for everything, and a time for every activity under the heavens? 1. A time to press your phone and a time to refrain from pressing your phone. 2. A time to focus on the road and be alert to your environment and a time for screen time at home or some safe place. 3. A time to converse with your fellow humans by active listening and participation and a time to chat online. What separates man from animals is our superior brain and ability to think and organize ourselves and dominate our environment. Let us not be habitual like animals. This is one flaw of animals that empowers man to tame even the wildest beasts. Our mobile phones should not make us zombies lacking the ability to think and be the master of our fates as it was designed by God in Genesis 1:28

2. Missed Opportunities

Phone zombies first lost opportunity is a wasted day, the greatest opportunity. Other missed opportunities are due to procrastination because the mobile phone was designed for maximum addiction. It has the effect of hard drugs like opium. It makes you keep putting to later what you should do right now until it’s too late. They fail to realize that by procrastinating they lose opportunity at the speed of the earth’s rotation of approximately 1,670km/h which is faster than the fastest car with a speed of 531km/h, and faster than the fastest animal with a speed of 386km/h.

Conclusion

What’s the merit of seeing a dysfunction without proffering solution? Right now I can only think of two: one is for these categories of mobile phone addicts to adopt a lifestyle of personal discipline. The second, I would have recommended a mandatory fine enforced by the police but it would turn to something else, so, the government at all levels and communities should create awareness and educate the public about the dangers of being a mobile phone zombie.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has flatly dismissed the increasingly popular narrative that artificial intelligence will unleash mass unemployment, directly rebutting claims by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who warned that AI could gut entry-level white-collar jobs on a historic scale.

Speaking to reporters at the VivaTech 2025 conference in Paris, Huang dismissed Amodei’s recent prediction that up to 20% of jobs could vanish within five years as a result of AI disruption, calling it both alarmist and self-interested.

“I pretty much disagree with almost everything he says,” Huang told reporters. “He thinks AI is so scary, but only they should do it.”

Amodei, who leads the developer of the Claude family of AI models, had told Axios that a wave of job displacement is inevitable, especially in sectors like law, finance, tech, and consulting. He warned governments to stop “sugarcoating” the threat and said society must prepare for AI’s economic shock.

But Huang, whose company Nvidia has become the most valuable semiconductor firm on earth, argued that AI’s transformative effects do not spell doom.

“Do I think AI will change jobs? Yes — it’s changed mine,” he said. “But I also believe AI is not that expensive and will open creative possibilities.”

Huang likened responsible AI development to medical research, where transparency and open collaboration are vital.

“If you want things to be done safely and responsibly, you should do it in the open,” he said, suggesting Amodei’s grim outlook could serve as a gatekeeping strategy.

He’s not alone in voicing optimism. Cognizant CEO Ravi Kumar told Business Insider that AI will help fresh graduates by lowering the skill barrier.

“AI enables faster upskilling,” Kumar said, “and reduces the need for years of deep domain expertise.”

However, the fears expressed by Amodei have been shared by others. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, while more measured, has repeatedly said that AI could upend labor markets. IBM CEO Arvind Krishna announced in 2023 that the company would pause hiring for roles that could be replaced by AI, including back-office functions like human resources. Krishna projected that up to 30% of non-customer-facing roles could eventually be automated.

Goldman Sachs analysts have also warned that as many as 300 million jobs globally could be exposed to some level of automation due to generative AI, especially in developed economies.

More recently, companies have started to act. In early 2024, Duolingo cut 10% of its contract translators, citing improvements in AI translation tools. Similarly, Dropbox laid off 16% of its workforce in mid-2023, with CEO Drew Houston saying the company needed to “act now” as AI begins to reshape its product roadmap. Chegg, the online education firm, also cited ChatGPT’s rise as a reason for slashing its workforce.

Even in publishing and media, companies like BuzzFeed and Gannett have downsized editorial roles, while simultaneously expanding AI-generated content initiatives.

Labor market data appears to support concerns. Revelio Labs found that since January 2023, job postings for positions most exposed to AI — including data entry clerks, IT specialists, and legal assistants — have declined more sharply than others, suggesting that employers are already reshaping their hiring plans based on automation.

Earlier this year, Dr. Sriraam Natarajan, a professor of computer science at the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Texas at Dallas, expressed the view of Huang. Natarajan sees AI as a technology breakthrough that will help increase productivity rather than make people’s jobs obsolete.

“The goal of AI is not to replace jobs but to train people to more effectively do things they are good at,” Natarajan said. “The mundane aspects of a job can be offloaded to AI. The creativity of these jobs will still rely on humans.”

Voyager Technologies soared in its U.S. stock market debut on Wednesday, more than doubling in value and closing with a $3.8 billion valuation—a dramatic entry that underscores investor enthusiasm for the defense and space sector amid growing government support under President Donald Trump.

Shares of the Denver-based company opened at $69.75, jumping 125% from the IPO offer price of $31. The upsized offering raised $382.8 million after Voyager sold approximately 12.4 million shares. The company, which provides mission-critical defense and space technologies, is listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol VOYG.

Founded in 2019, Voyager has quickly become a major player in U.S. defense infrastructure, securing contracts with both the Department of Defense and NASA. Its market entry comes at a time of sweeping policy changes in defense and space spending driven by Trump’s push for strategic autonomy and missile defense expansion.

One of the largest drivers of optimism around Voyager’s public debut is Trump’s proposed $175 billion Golden Dome project, a vast missile defense shield designed to protect the U.S. homeland from long-range threats. The administration has framed the plan as central to its national security strategy, with a focus on technologies like space-based sensors, propulsion systems, and precision optical guidance—areas in which Voyager specializes.

“Strategic government backing amid increased defense spending somewhat shields these firms from tariff-induced supply chain risks,” said IPOX research associate Lukas Muehlbauer.

As of March 31, Voyager reported a backlog of $179.2 million in contracted work, an indicator of sustained demand for its offerings in a sector marked by long development cycles and high entry barriers. The company’s business spans propulsion systems, satellite guidance, spacecraft design, and orbital defense systems.

In 2024, Lockheed Martin selected Voyager to supply critical propulsion and optical systems for missile interceptors, a role integral to the U.S. effort to defend against hypersonic and long-range missile threats. In parallel, Voyager has been tapped by NASA for a $217.5 million project to develop Starlab, a modular orbital outpost intended as a successor to the International Space Station. Voyager is leading the project in partnership with Airbus, Mitsubishi, and Palantir.

The IPO marks the most high-profile space-related listing in months, following the successful debut of Karman, another defense and aerospace firm, whose shares have also doubled since going public. Voyager’s entry confirms growing investor confidence in the commercial space and defense industry, especially companies that are seen as aligned with Trump’s military modernization strategy.

“This IPO is a significant milestone for the broader space sector, indicating its progression towards greater commercial maturity,” said Rob Desborough, managing director at Seraphim Space Investment Trust, one of Voyager’s backers.

The administration’s defense budget proposals, which prioritize space superiority and high-tech military deterrents, have created fertile ground for firms like Voyager. Analysts point out that such strategic policy moves make companies in the sector more resilient to economic uncertainty, including inflationary pressure and international trade tensions.

“Although high entry barriers in the defense sector naturally limit the pool of IPO candidates, the current environment is encouraging established companies to go public,” Muehlbauer added.

Voyager’s offering was further boosted by early commitments from institutional investors. Janus Henderson and Wellington Management had each expressed interest in acquiring up to $60 million worth of Voyager shares, providing an anchor that helped strengthen market confidence ahead of the listing.

The surge in stock price also reflects renewed enthusiasm for space infrastructure investments, which had cooled in recent quarters. The Trump administration’s consistent push for re-militarizing space and insulating defense suppliers from foreign reliance appears to be resetting investor expectations.

While the broader market remains volatile, Voyager’s debut signals a bullish outlook for companies at the intersection of commercial innovation and national security, particularly those backed by strong federal contracts and future-facing projects like orbital habitats and missile defense.

With its debut, Voyager not only joins the growing league of publicly listed space companies—it does so with a war chest and policy tailwinds that suggest its trajectory is only beginning.