Safaricom, Jamii Telecom partner up to manufacture Kenyan smartphone

Details: Manny Pham; Category: Operators; 21 June 2023; 4784 views

Safaricom and Kenyan operator Jamii Telecommunication have reportedly partnered with Shenzhen TeleOne Technology to locally manufacture smartphones, with a factory to be operational in two months' time.

Speaking to Business Daily, Safaricom chief corporate affairs officer Stephen Kiptiness said the three companies are advanced in setting up an assembly plant within the Konza Technopolis, a smart city south of Nairobi marketed to be a key driver of Kenya’s Vision 2030 national development plan.

“The consortium is closing out the loose ends around the investment. It is my understanding that the manufacturing should start within the next two months… Once the manufacturing process starts, then it is a matter of time. I don’t think it will take six months for the final product to reach the retail level,” said Kiptiness.

“Plans are at an advanced stage to set up the assembly unit. As far as I understand, the assembly units are in the country or almost getting into the country for purposes of the actual physical set up of the manufacturing plant.”

Shenzhen TeleOne Technology manufactures smartphones and is a subsidiary of Tink Group, which produces batteries.

President William Ruto revealed plans to produce smartphones locally in December last year and ambitiously set the government a 12-month deadline to deliver affordable smartphones to the Kenyan market.

Ruto set the intention of selling smartphones for less than US$40 but noted the sweet spot will be between US$40 to $50.

Safaricom Head of Venture Karanja Gichiri argued in Kenya’s parliament that the price range is unachievable due to new taxes within the country’s new finance bill, which will push prices north of US$80, reported Business Daily.

At the end of 2023, the Communications Authority of Kenya revealed there were 63.4 million mobile phones in the country, 33.6 million (over half) were feature phones and 29.7 million were smartphones.