Telkom rolls out Sh3,100 smartphone in push for data uptake

Telkom Kenya has unveiled a deal to offer affordable smartphones to its customers as it seeks to boost data revenues.

Telkom Kenya, which said recently it is now betting on data to grow its sales after it terminated the deal to merge with Airtel, noted yesterday that the smartphones retailing at Sh3,100 will enable more of its customers access the higher speed 4G Internet.

“The Kaduda 4G is a significant upgrade in the Kaduda series that will allow more of our customers to have access to additional features and applications not seen in the previous devices,” Telkom’s managing director for consumer Steve Okeyo.

The smartphones will be available in all Telkom shops, countrywide, the operator added.

Telkom joins Safaricom #ticker:SCOM in the push for uptake of entry level budget smartphones to ramp up data revenues.

Safaricom from July began partnering with Google to offer one million affordable smartphones.

Telkom recently said it will turn to the Internet to power future growth at a time data is seen as one of the fastest growing revenue lines for telecoms companies.

The telecommunication firm also plans to revamp its mobile money transfer service T-Kash in the hope of enticing more customers to use its network as it takes on market leader Safaricom and rival Airtel Kenya.

Telkom accounted for 5.8 percent of Kenyan mobile subscribers in March, behind second-placed Airtel, which had a 26.6 percent market share and Safaricom, which now controls about two-thirds of the voice market in terms of subscribers.

“We will make use of our extensive fibre network, to drive digital transformation by enabling public and private sector players to become smart entities, by way of technologies such as Internet of Things (IoTs), Cloud, Big Data and Analytics,” Telkom chief executive Mugo Kibati announced earlier.

“The end game is to build and become the technology partner of choice.”

Telkom Kenya and a unit of Google’s parent Alphabet earlier started offering the world’s first commercial high-speed internet using balloons to villagers in remote regions of Kenya. The project aims to provide affordable 4G internet to under-covered or uncovered rural communities. Safaricom is also aiming to rev up its data business to offset sluggish growth in mobile calls.