With mobile connectivity now integral to the modern economy, a key part of any national development programme must be digital inclusion, telecoms experts have said.
This they said, would be achieved by expanding mobile broadband coverage, adding that another important consideration is about smartphone affordability.
A recent GSMA report shows that smartphones make up 39 per cent of the 774 million mobile connections in sub-Saharan Africa. This is projected to grow significantly, but for Africa’s people to fully reap the dividends of mobile connectivity, it is critical that 4G-enabled smartphone handsets be made more easily attainable for the entry-level market.
This calls for financial innovation alongside the technological innovation that characterises the sector. Smartphones must become cheaper if Africa is to unlock the full potential of its people.
Fortunately, there are already encouraging signs that manufacturers, policymakers and network operators are partnering to integrate such financial innovation into the drive towards digital inclusion.
In Kenya, Safaricom recently rolled out a device financing programme, in partnership with Google and Teleone, allowing low-income earners in Kenya to access quality 4G phones at low cost.
The country has a high mobile telephony penetration, but this has traditionally involved 2G phones. The campaign aims to bring a million more customers into the digital economy.
Airtel Africa has expanded 4G adoption on the continent with its “more for more” data offers, increasing average data use, with 4G now accounting for more than 60 per cent of its data revenue.
However, one of the most effective means of encouraging smartphone adoption is reducing the tax burden on mobile phones and services in the form of import duties and sales taxes. In this context, policymakers have a powerful role to play in empowering citizens with easier access to digital connectivity.
As smartphones become the norm, broadband spectrum can follow suit, and network operators can transition to a 4G- and 5G based platforms, with all the high-speed, mass-connectivity benefits that brings.
A surging demand for 4G handsets indicates when a market is ready for the 4G network transition, and it becomes possible to shut down the 3G spectrum, as India was recently able to do.At the recent LTE World Summit 2020, the Executive Vice President of Barthi Airtel in India, Sandeep Gupta, said the decision to shut down the 3G network was motivated by two considerations – smartphone penetration, and the right network assets, such as Software Defined Radio (SDR) and singleRAN radio, which supports 4G VoLTE. […]