Airtel launches pan-Africa customised 3G smartphone for $53

In a move aimed at increasing its data revenue, telecom major Bharti Airtel on Tuesday launched its first pan-Africa customised 3G smartphone for $53 to tap mobile Internet users. “As Airtel, we are focused on migrating, existing and new customers from the traditional feature phones to Android smartphones to take advantage of Airtel’s 3G networks. We anticipate high uptake levels within the first six months of operations,” Airtel Africa CEO Christian de Faria said in a statement. The Android KitKat platform-based phone has a memory of 4GB ROM, 512 MB RAM with 32 GB external memory capacity, a central processing unit (CPU). The device will be sold at $53 subject to various governments levies and available at local retail outlets, the statement added. It is available in Seychelles, Uganda and Burkina Faso markets with 14 other Airtel operating countries expected to launch the mobile devices over the next few weeks. “Special attention was given to the device layout and the user interface to provide quick and simple access to services like Airtel mobile money and popular social media applications to our customers,” Faria said. The company is driving the new smartphone campaign to help accelerate data adoption in Sub-Saharan Africa, currently witnessing one of the strongest increases in mobile data use in the world, the statement said. Experts suggest that mobile internet traffic across Africa will double between 2014 and 2015, and will see a 20-fold increase by the end of the decade, it added. Airtel currently has the widest 3G network in Africa, with a presence across 17 markets. According to the June 2014 Sub-Saharan African Mobility reports, data usage in Africa is growing with 3G technology expected to become the dominant technology across Sub-Sahara region by 2017, outstripping 2G to become the region’s dominant form of mobile connection. The phone has feedback options to allow Airtel to adapt the interface in line with customer feedback and research. PTI