Chinese mobile phone-maker Tecno is out to disrupt the smartphone market in Nigeria by offering cheaper smartphones than its arch rivals Samsung and Etisalat.
Tecno’s business manager, operator and mobile internet Joe He at Saffron told Techloy that Nigeria is the company’s biggest market and that Tecno has already sold over 10,000 units of the smartphone.
Saffron said that Tecno’s main strategy is to provide local relevance and ability to partner with the ecosystem to increase the smartphone adoption rate in the country.
Tecno is still in the process of building a Nigerian office, but has already sold thousands of mobile phones through its over 200 dealers and retailers in the West African country.
The company will, however, have to deal with more established brands like the Samsung Galaxy pocket and Etisalat’s Gaga Smartphone that have already established themselves in the Nigerian smartphone market.
Nigeria is Africa’s largest mobile market with over 100 million subscribers. According to Samsung Electronics, Nigeria is Africa’s leading country in smartphone penetration with 41 percent, followed by South Africa with 31 percent and Kenya 7 percent.
“Mobile broadband penetration has increased tremendously over the last few years. Across Africa, we are witnessing continued investment in infrastructure by most of the network operators,” said Samsung Electronics West Africa’s mobile business leader for Nigeria, Mr Emmanuel Revmatas, during the launch of Samsung Galaxy Note II. “This makes it possible for telecom subscribers to take full advantage of world of endless opportunities that smart devices like the Samsung Galaxy Note II offer.”
With Africa’s smartphone market set to increase by 2015, companies like Tecno and the rest are now concentrating more on these markets.
