The Tencent-owned app has not yet provided a reason for the sudden termination of all its services in the country, which include Joox VIP, Joox through MultiChoice’s DStv, and Telkom Music powered by Joox. Telkom also confirmed in a statement that its service would shut down. “Telkom Music powered by Joox will come to a close as of 31 March 2022.

The music service run by Joox will come to an end,” Telkom said. “Users will no longer be able to access the Telkom Music app and continue enjoying its music services. Telkom Music VIP services will be stopped as of 31 December 2021.” According to News24, the withdrawal of Joox’s services in South Africa is somewhat unexpected as Joox had indicated that the take-up of its offerings in the country was going well.

Joox had also said it planned to expand its services to other African countries. The streaming service was launched in South Africa in 2017 with a catalogue of more than 3 million songs. The country was the first outside of Asia to get the service. Initially, it was available on a free or a paid VIP tier, priced at R29.99 per week or R59.99 per month.

The following year, the service partnered with MultiChoice to offer the service to certain DStv subscribers free of charge. Joox was also one of the third-party apps available on its Explora Ultra decoder. Telkom launched its music streaming service, powered by Joox, in July 2021 for R60 per month.