Lagos – A smartphone manufacturer has set up its first factory in Nigeria’s commercial hub of Lagos to provide Africa’s biggest mobile market with low-cost smartphones amid an economic recession.
AfriOne’s devices, using the Android operating system, will cost from 29 000 naira (R1 199) to 33 000 naira, targeting middle-income buyers in a country of about 180 million people, according to Lekan Akinjide, director of strategy and government co-ordination at the company.
Its first factory has an installed capacity to produce 120 000 units per month, with one other factory planned, he said on Friday at an event in Lagos.
Parent company Contec Global invested $10 million (R131 million) in the project. Cheaper phones are pushing internet penetration in Nigeria, with most people getting online via mobile devices rather than computers.
The country had 154 million active mobile-phone users as of February according to from Nigeria Communications Commission.