On the occasion of Mobile World Congress, Orange partners with KaiOS Technologies and UNISOC to market a $ 20 smart voice-enabled mobile in 16 countries in Africa and the Middle East: Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Republic Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Jordan, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Sierra Leone and Tunisia.

A smart 3G feature phone at an attractive price

As of April 2019, Orange customers in Mali, Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire will have access to a new category of smart phones running KaiOS Technologies, the operating system of KaiOS Technologies. Other countries will follow in the course of 2019.

Sanza will be marketed with an offer (voice / SMS / data) at around $ 20 (different rates depending on the country), which will allow many customers to optimize their budget.

Sanza is the simplicity of a feature phone equipped with the
form UNISOC SC7731EF with a battery life longer than 5 days, 3G +, a torch, wifi and bluetooth, combined with advanced features close to a smartphone.

Advanced features tailored for Africans

Thanks to Google Assistant, Sanza overcomes the obstacles to mobile internet access related to
languages ​​and literacy. Customers can access applications and multiple information simply by voice: in French and English, no matter the accent. More languages ​​are coming in 2019. The phone menu is already available in Arabic, Swahili, Portuguese, English and French.

This new mobile will also allow access to applications such as Twitter,
Facebook, YouTube, Google Search and Google Maps; Not to mention Orange Money, the money transfer and financial services offer and Orange & Moi, the application that allows you to track your mobile consumption.

For Alioune Ndiaye, Chief Executive Officer of Orange Middle East and Africa: “Sanza is a concrete proof of Orange’s ability to be a major player in digital inclusion in Africa and the Middle East. With its voice mode internet access and attractive price of around $ 20, I believe that this 3G mobile and soon 4G, is a powerful lever to develop Internet access for all in Africa. ”

According to Gérard Lokossou, Managing Director of Orange Democratic Republic of Congo
: “The smartphone penetration rate in the DRC is still quite low, 30% against
an average of 50% on the Continent. The development of mobile payment via Orange
Money, the launch of 4G + in 2018 and our policy of generalization of 3G on
the whole territory are all factors to boost the penetration of smartphones in the DRC. The upcoming commercialization of the Sanza at an affordable price illustrates this strategy of democratization of Internet access in the country.

Sebastien Codeville, CEO of KaiOS Technologies: “Our mission is to help bridge the digital divide by bringing mobile connectivity to the billions of people who do not yet have access to the Internet in emerging countries, but also in developed countries. who are looking for an alternative to smartphones.

Sanza by Orange marks an important step in accomplishing this mission,
we aspire to a great success in Africa thanks to its attractive price, its unique features and features but also thanks to the strong presence of Orange in the region. ”
Orange is present in 20 countries in Africa and the Middle East and has 120 million customers.
With 5 billion euros of sales in 2017, this zone is a strategic priority for the
Group. Orange Money offers money transfer and mobile money service available
in 17 countries there are 40 million customers. Orange, multi-service operator, reference partner
digital transformation brings its know-how to support the development of
new digital services in Africa and the Middle East.

About KaiOS Technologies
KaiOS Technologies powers an ecosystem of affordable digital products and services. Its flagship product, KaiOS, is the emerging mobile operating system for smart phones with more than 50 million active users in over 100 countries. Kai’s mission is to help close the digital divide by bringing mobile connectivity to the trillions of people with an alternative to smartphones. KaiOS is based on HTML5 and other open web technologies. Devices
Google, YouTube, Facebook, Google Maps, and Twitter.

About UNISOC
As a core subsidiary of Tsinghua Unigroup, UNISOC is a leading fabless semiconductor company
committed to the independent R & D of core chipsets in mobile communications and IoT. Mobile communication chipset supporting 2G / 3G / 4G / 5G standard communication, RF chipsets, wireless connection chipsets, security chipsets, TV chipsets, and image sensor chipsets. With more than 4,500 staff, 14 R & D centers and 8 customer support centers around the world (as of Oct 2018), UNISOC has been one of the top 3 mobile baseband chipset suppliers in the world, the largest pan-chip provider in China, and the leading 5G communications chipset design company in China.

About The Author

CEO AfrikaTech

Comme beaucoup de personnes j’ai connu l’Afrique à travers des stéréotypes : l’Afrique est pauvre, il y a la guerre, famine… Je suis devenu entrepreneur pour briser ces clichés et participer à la construction du continent. J’ai lancé plusieurs entreprises dont Kareea (Formation et développement web), Tutorys (Plate-forme de e-learning), AfrikanFunding (Plate-forme de crowdfunding). Après un échec sur ma startup Tutorys, à cause d’une mauvaise exécution Business, un manque de réseau, pas de mentor, je suis parti 6 mois en immersion dans l’écosystème Tech au Sénégal. J’ai rencontré de nombreux entrepreneurs passionnés, talentueux et déterminés. A mon retour sur Paris je décide de raconter leur histoire en créant le média AfrikaTech. L'objectif est de soutenir les entrepreneurs qui se battent quotidiennement en Afrique en leur offrant la visibilité, les connaissances, le réseautage et les capitaux nécessaires pour réussir. L'Afrique de demain se construit aujourd'hui ensemble. Rejoignez-nous ! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/boubacardiallo

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