‘Mantoetse Maama
MASERU — The World Cup fever saw a surge in demand for decoders this week as fans sought to watch football matches in the comfort of their homes.
Fabian Theko, the human resources manager at retail giant Life’s Comfort Solutions, said they sold all 1 000 decoders in stock in the past week.
“The 1 000 decoders we received this week were all sold out,” Theko told the Sunday Express on Thursday.
“The long queues that you see are for people who are coming to renew their smart card contracts.”
A single decoder was selling at a special price of M649, down from the regular price of M999.
“The price of M649 for the decoders was imposed by the manufacturer. It was a World Cup special,” Theko said.
He said some people had not paid their subscription fees over the past six months and had to buy new decoders as they could not continue to use the old ones.
“If a person has not paid his or her subscription fees for two months they have to get a new smart card and decoder,” Theko said.
The massive surge in demand for satellite TV service saw a long queue snaking outside Life’s Comfort Solutions shop at Pioneer Shopping Centre since Tuesday.
Even yesterday, customers were still queuing outside the shop.
Theko however said most of the people on the queue wanted to renew their smart card contracts.
He said the surge in demand had forced them to work over-time to clear the queue.
Thabo Seaphephe said he wanted to renew his smart card so that he could watch football matches at home.
“I want to relax and watch soccer with my family,” Seaphephe said.
He said he had failed to pay his monthly subscription over the past three months.
But now that the World Cup was here, Seaphephe said he needed to renew his subscription to watch the matches at home.
A full bouquet of channels costs M515.70 a month while a half-bouquet costs about M210 a month.
Mats’epo Letele said she bought her decoder this week to enable her children to stay indoors and watch the World Cup.
“I want them to stay at home as it would be cold outside. They will be free to do whatever they want as they will be at home,” Letele said.
The World Cup began on Friday and will run until July 11.
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