Airtel rolls out pan-African smartphone to boost 3G business

In order to boost its data revenue, telecom giant Bharti Airtel today rolled out its first pan-Africa customised 3G smartphone to lure users who love accessing Internet using their handsets. The device has been priced at $53, a PTI report revealed.

"As Airtel, we are focused on migrating, existing and new customers from the traditional feature phones to android smartphones to take advantage of Airtel's 3G networks. We anticipate high uptake levels within the first six months of operations," the news agency quoted Christian de Faria, Airtel Africa CEO, as saying.

Looking at the specification, the handset runs on the Android KitKat platform. It has been equipped with a memory of 4GB ROM and 512MB RAM, with a 32GB external memory capacity. The crucial part of any phone is its battery, and this new device from Airtel has a battery life of 1300mAh. This smartphone, which has a qualcomm dual core Central Processing Unit (CPU), has front and rear 3 mega pixel cameras, the PTI report said.

Currently, the handset is available in the markets of Seychelles, Uganda and Burkina Faso. As per the statement issued by the company, this would also be launched in 14 other Airtel Operating Countries over the next few weeks.

Bharti Airtel is driving the new smartphone campaign to boost data adoption across Sub-Saharan Africa. The statement further added that the region is currently witnessing one of the strongest growths in the usage of mobile data across the globe.

With a presence across 17 markets, Airtel, at present, has the widest 3G network in the continent.
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