Bharti Airtel Africa – in association with chip vendor Qualcomm — has launched its customized smartphone with a price of $53.
“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,” said Airtel Africa Chief Executive Officer Christian de Faria.
Airtel Africa anticipates high uptake levels within the first six months of operations from customers.
According to industry estimates, mobile internet traffic across Africa will double between 2014 and 2015, and will see a 20-fold increase by the end of the decade.
Data usage in Africa is growing with 3G technology expected to become the dominant technology across Sub-Sahara region by 2017, overtaking 2G to become the region’s dominant form of mobile connection. Airtel currently has the widest 3G network in Africa, with a presence across 17 markets.
The smartphone called Airtel Red will be 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.
The 3G enabled phone has a memory of 4GB ROM +512 MB RAM with 32 GB external memory capacity and Androids 4.4 KitKat Operating System. Its customers will have access to Internet browsing capabilities, Facebook, YouTube, Whatsapp, Twitter and various other social media and connectivity applications.
