Mobile News South Africa

Safaricom to ditch feature phones

TechCentral wraps up the major technology news from around the African continent.

Kenya's biggest mobile operator, Safaricom, has said it will stop selling feature phones in its own retail stores an effort to increase smartphone penetration and bolster the East African country's digital content market.

Corporate affairs director, Nzioka Waita made the surprising announcement at the Mobile Web East Africa conference held in Nairobi last week.

"Safaricom is soon going to stop selling the cheap feature phones in all our retail outlets, as we try to skew the Kenyan market towards smartphones," Waita said.

Feature phones will be replaced by low-cost smartphones that "are now readily available in the country".

...Zimbabwe gets online Lobola service

Zimbabwean online cattle auction service Remote Livestock Marketing System (RLMS) has begun offering consumers the chance to purchase lobola cattle using the website. Lobola, or "bride price", is a Southern African practice whereby a groom pays a bride's family with cattle when he marries her.

...Uganda Sim registration confusion

The Uganda Communications Commission, the country's regulator, has been unable to say how many Sim cards have been registered as part of the obligatory registration process that is due to be concluded before the end of the month.

...Mauritius to give pupils tablets

All form 4 (Grade 11) students in Mauritius will receive a government-funded tablet computer in March. This is according to the country's minister of education and human resources, Vasant Bunwaree.

Read the full story on www.TechCentral.co.za

Source: TechCentral

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About Craig Wilson

Craig Wilson is an ICT journalist and speaker based in Johannesburg. He is deputy editor at TechCentral, the South African source for technology news, reviews and opinion, and regularly provides insight into the technology industry for radio and television. Email him at az.oc.lartnechcet@giarc, follow @craigwilson on Twitter and connect on LinkedIn.
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