This archive report was first published on 6 August 2020.
Africa's Digital Inclusion Hinges on Affordable Smartphones ¶
As mobile connectivity becomes integral to the modern economy, digital inclusion is a key part of any national development programme. Expanding mobile broadband coverage is crucial, but smartphone affordability is equally important.
According to a recent GSMA report, published on March 2020, smartphones make up 39% 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.
Financial innovation is necessary to make smartphones more affordable. In Kenya, Safaricom recently rolled out a device financing programme, in partnership with Google, allowing low-income earners to access quality 4G phones at low instalments from as little as Kshs 20 a day.
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.
Reducing the tax burden on mobile phones and services in the form of import duties and sales taxes can encourage smartphone adoption. Policymakers have a powerful role to play in empowering citizens with easier access to digital connectivity.
As smartphones become the norm, the broadband spectrum can follow suit, and network operators can transition to a 4G- and 5G-based platform, with all the high-speed, mass-connectivity benefits that brings.
At the recent LTE World Summit 2020, Sandeep Gupta, executive vice president of Bharti Airtel in India, said the decision to shut down the 3G network was motivated by two considerations – smartphone penetration, and the right network assets, such as SDR (Software Defined Radio) and SingleRAN radio, which supports 4G VoLTE.
China has introduced 100 Yuan (about Kshs 1,500) handsets, catapulting millions into the 4G and 5G future. In South Africa, smartphones have also become significantly more affordable, with handsets such as the Huawei Y5 Lite retailing for around R1 300 (Kshs 8,000).
Perhaps the simplest way to hasten digital inclusion is a change in our understanding of the place of 4G handsets in our society. Once smartphones are seen as a commodity, a basic right instead of a luxury, they can be marketed, sold and taxed accordingly, bringing all of humanity into the new digital economy.
