The management at Chinese smartphone maker Tecno shocked reporters at the launch of its latest device by adding it plans to open a Nigerian plant, potentially creating thousands of jobs.
The media had been called to what they expected to be a routine launch of the Tecno P3, but were also enlightened about the company’s bigger plans.
Speaking to reporters in Lagos Arif Chowdhury, vice president of Tecno, said: “Nigeria is TECNO’s biggest market in terms of volume and Lagos will be the location of the plant because Lagos is not just the commercial nerve centre of Nigeria but also the economic capital of Africa,” reported Vanguard.
The plans could be prevented by government however as the company waits for the right permissions and policies on duty structure for mobile phone import.
Boukali Mounir, public relations manager at Tecno, said the idea behind the plant was to further demonstrate the company’s long term interest and commitment to Nigeria.
He said thousands of jobs would be created by the plant.
The new entry level Tecno P3 runs on the Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM7225A processor.
At the launch, network operator Etisalat unveiled its 12 month special promotion for its subscribers to get the P3 with 100MB free data.
Concerning the P3, Chowdhury said: “We realized that internet savvy Nigerians are in dire need of a 0fast, innovative and seamless internet experience. These experiences are what TECNO P3 smartphone brings, and that also informs why we partnered with etisalat.”
