The GSMA Handset Affordability Coalition — comprising six of the largest mobile operators in Africa — on Tuesday announced that six countries on the continent have been earmarked for the launch of its low-cost device priced at just US$40 (R660).
The announcement was made during a press conference at the African Pavilion stand at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, and coincided with a celebration marking the first time African mobile operators had exhibition space on the MWC floor.
“One of the biggest barriers and challenges for Africa is around the affordability of devices. This presents itself in the willingness of our population to go online, simply because they cannot find content in their own languages. For us, the challenge is around closing the usage gap by bringing devices at an affordable minimum specifications on 4G into the pilot phase,” said Angela Wamola, head of Africa at GSMA.
The GSMA Handset Affordability Coalition includes Airtel, Axian Telecom, Ethio Telecom, Orange, and South Africa’s Vodacom Group and MTN Group. Two of these operators, namely MTN and Ethio Telecom, were exhibitors at the African Pavilion alongside fibre operator Cassava Technologies and Tanzanian mobile operator Yas. The coalition’s main goal is to narrow the usage gap across the continent, where up to 85% of the population has access to mobile network coverage but far fewer actually make use of it because they cannot afford 4G-capable devices.
Wamola said the coalition shared its minimum specifications around storage, screen size, battery life and other features with original equipment manufacturers with a view to bringing a $40 device to market. The coalition received “a positive response from its vendor ecosystem”, she added.
Six markets
The Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda will be the first to pilot the new devices. Wamola said negotiations with distributors in these nations have led to promises the devices will retail at $40. “Many other countries have shown interest while we have been here in Barcelona,” said Wamola.
Part of the GSMA’s work in bringing affordable devices to market involves lobbying regulators to ensure taxes on smartphones do not inhibit affordability. Wamola cited South Africa as an example, where — following a successful lobby spearheaded by communications minister Solly Malatsi alongside the mobile operators — national treasury in March 2025 announced the removal of luxury taxes on smartphones costing R2 500 or less, leading to an overall decline in prices. Wamola urged regulators in other parts of Africa to consider similar actions to make smartphones more affordable for their populations.
Read: Smartphone affordability: South Africa’s new economic divide
A major driver of the coalition’s push for higher connectivity rates across the continent is the widening digital literacy gap between African populations and their global counterparts, exacerbated by the rise of AI. In the developed world, higher rates of fibre connectivity support the growth of higher-bandwidth use cases supported by AI. These, in turn, lead to the development of new products and services.
Fibre penetration rates are much lower in Africa while mobile operators have reached high levels of coverage. According to Frehiwot Tamiru, CEO of Ethio Telecom, this puts mobile operators in a unique position to be the drivers of digital inclusion in the age of AI, but some milestones have to be reached first.
“Specific to Africa, to further unlock access to digital services as well as AI potential, we have to address the affordability challenge,” said Tamiru.
The announcement of the affordable device pilot coincides with the launch and live demonstration of the first open Swahili reasoning model, built in collaboration with MeetKai Zambia. The model is capable of translating online content to Swahili.
Speaking to TechCentral in a post-launch interview, Wamola said the AI language initiative is intended to address another issue plaguing African nations: users not having enough content relevant to them in their own languages. She said this is another contributor to the high usage gap even where connectivity is readily available.
Despite being optimistic that the $40 price point will make connectivity more affordable for many across Africa, she admitted that the current RAM shortage, which has led to an increase in the price of consumer devices, is a risk in the long term. The coalition’s ultimate goal is to bring the price down as far as $20/unit.
Read: Smartphone market hit by deepening memory crisis
“With the memory shortage, the $40 price point could slip away. Prices are really escalating, even though vendors have committed to doing their best to bring the devices at that price point. We need this to get started because the momentum will bring us scale and that scale will help us get to that $20 price point,” said Wamola. — (c) 2026 NewsCentral Media
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