{"id":56023,"date":"2025-10-21T16:19:22","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T16:19:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/phones-for-all-mwc-kigali-2025-pushes-for-cheaper-4g-smartphones-in-africa\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T15:28:59","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T15:28:59","slug":"phones-for-all-mwc-kigali-2025-pushes-for-cheaper-4g-smartphones-in-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/phones-for-all-mwc-kigali-2025-pushes-for-cheaper-4g-smartphones-in-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Phones for all: MWC Kigali 2025 pushes for cheaper 4G smartphones in Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spearheaded by the GSMA Handset Affordability Coalition, the initiative unites six major operators, Airtel, Axian Telecom, Ethio Telecom, MTN, Orange, and Vodacom, to lower smartphone costs and expand digital access. According to the organisers, South Africa\u2019s recent exemption of smartphones priced below USD 150 from luxury taxes serves as a model, having boosted connectivity for millions.<\/p>\n

President Paul Kagame, opening the event for the third year, underscored the urgency of addressing existing connectivity gaps. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf this [connectivity] gap persists, the same technology meant to expand access will instead widen inequality,\u201d he warned, tying Rwanda\u2019s vision for a knowledge-based economy to universal access. <\/p>\n

Vivek Badrinath, GSMA Director General, emphasised device costs as a key barrier. \u201cAfrica\u2019s mobile sector is dynamic, but high device costs must be tackled to make digital inclusion affordable,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

The GSMA Mobile Economy Africa 2025 Report, launched at the event, reveals that 416 million Africans use mobile internet, yet a usage gap of 960 million people, including 790 million in Sub-Saharan Africa, persists, largely due to unaffordable handsets.<\/p>\n

Rwanda\u2019s ICT Minister Paula Ingabire showcased how policy and partnerships cut costs, growing mobile users from 500,000 in 2023 to 5 million 4G users by June 2025. <\/p>\n

MTN Rwanda\u2019s 5G rollout and connectivity for 1,000 health facilities and 4,000 schools demonstrate the impact. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen vision meets partnership, progress follows,\u201d she said, urging African-led solutions scalable globally.<\/p>\n

The GSMA report projects the mobile sector\u2019s economic contribution will rise from $220 billion in 2024 to $270 billion by 2030, with $77 billion in network investments. 4G adoption is expected to grow from 45% to 54%, and 5G from 2% to 21% by 2030, but affordable devices remain critical.<\/p>\n

MWC Kigali also tackled inclusive AI language models and energy resilience. A continent-wide AI collaboration, \u201cAI in Africa, by Africa, for Africa,\u201d involves operators and developers like Masakhane African Languages Hub to embed African languages in global AI. With over 80% of the world\u2019s unelectrified in Africa, the GSMA Ministerial Programme explores energy-digital alignment to power connectivity.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfrica has the talent and ambition, but reforms on affordability are essential to ensure everyone benefits from the digital economy,” Angela Wamola, Head of Africa at GSMA, stated.<\/p>\n

Hosted at the Kigali Convention Centre, MWC Kigali 2025, under the theme Converge. Connect. Create., has drawn over 4,000 delegates from 109 countries.<\/p>\n

\"President<\/figure>\n
\"Vivek<\/figure>\n
\"Rwanda\u2019s<\/figure>\n
\"Hosted<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Mobile World Congress (MWC) Kigali 2025 opened Tuesday with a GSMA-led push to make 4G smartphones affordable across Africa, proposing a new baseline for low-cost devices to close the continent\u2019s digital divide. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000096503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[75],"byline":[192],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-56023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-technology","tag-homenews","byline-wycliffe-nyamasege"],"bylines":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"contributors":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"featured_image":{"id":2000096503,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/mwc25-kigali-keynote1_800x533logo.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/mwc25-kigali-keynote1_800x533logo.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/mwc25-kigali-keynote1_800x533logo.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/mwc25-kigali-keynote1_800x533logo.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/mwc25-kigali-keynote1_800x533logo.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/mwc25-kigali-keynote1_800x533logo.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000096503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56023"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=56023"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=56023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}