Smartphone affordability remains one of the major contributing factors hampering digital inclusion in
some African countries.
Speaking during an
online Mobile Broadband Inclusion discussion organised by Huawei this
week, GSMA Head of Sub-Saharan Africa, Akinwale Goodluck said the issue
of smartphone pricing remained a barrier to
internet adoption.
Goodluck said
while consumers across the continent wanted to have access to quality
smartphones, with speedy internet connectivity, affordability was still
an issue.
“There are a lot
of initiatives going on as different stakeholders are trying to sell a
50-dollar smartphone and some places more aggressive, a 20-dollar
smartphone. Governments have a big role to play,
especially with tax policies,” he said.
Strategies for smartphone proliferation
While reducing the
taxation on smartphones is an obvious way to make smartphones more
affordable, other strategies can also reduce the cost of smartphones for
low-income citizens.
One such strategy
includes government getting involved in parts of the value chain –
including marketing, distribution, and retail.
This would reduce the costs directly incurred by smartphone makers by reducing the number of players within the supply chain.
As the fight
against Covid-19 pandemic continued, Goodluck said digital connectivity
was crucial, adding that it is important to “get a smartphone into
everybody’s’ hands.”
The Kenyan response
In an effort to
deal with this affordability barrier, Kenya’s mobile network Safaricom
in collaboration with Google and Teleone is rolling out a finance
program which would enable “low income earners” to
purchase 4G phones cheaper.
While there’s a
number of citizens with access to mobile technology, a huge number of
them still use 2G phones. The program would allow Kenyans’ to pay as
little as Kshs 20 a day to afford buy 4G smart phones.
This initiative would result to 1 million Kenyans accessing the internet.
- https://www.gsma.com/subsaharanafrica/resources/the-mobile-economy-sub-saharan-africa-2019
- https://www.itweb.co.za/static/misc/pdf/Facebook-Infographic-2019.pdf
