Nokia keen to recapture E. Africa market - HMD CEO Seiche
Kenya remains a strategic market for Nokia, the firm g=has said as it aligns its outlook for the East African market.
HMD Global CEO, Florian Seiche said the firm is banking on Kenya's strategic location, technological advancement and growing economy to spread the Nokia brand in Africa.
“Kenya has always been and continues to be a strategic location for our East African business. We recognise the innovative nature of the market and are committed to meeting and satisfying the needs of our customers,” he said during his maiden visit to the country.
He said Nokia remains a leading provider for smartphones and feature phones in Kenya.
According to Digital 2021, Kenya's mobile penetration grew by 11 percent between January 2020 and January 2021, to 59.24 million mobile connections or a penetration rate of over 100 per cent.
A new survey by TNS International shows that Kenyans replace their mobile phone handsets more often than their counterparts in Uganda and Tanzania, signalling that East Africa's biggest economy could be more savvy to emerging trends in the ICT industry.
Although Nokia, manufactured by HMD Global is among pioneer mobile handsets in Kenya alongside Motorola and Samsung, these early arrivals have since been eclipsed by new brands in the region.
HMD Global didn’t make its way to the top 10 list of smartphone vendors according to Counterpoint Research. In Q3 2018, HMD was number nine on Counterpoint’s list with 4.8 million units shipped.
According to the report, Nokia ranked position 13 with one per cent of market share based on preliminary estimates. That puts the number of shipments roughly at 3.8 million.
Samsung remained top vendor with 78.4 million devices shipped and 20.6 per cent market share. Huawei secured the second spot posting strong growth, mainly thanks to China, Apple was third with 44.8 million iPhones shipped.
Oppo, Vivo and Realme together achieved 72.4 million units shipped (without OnePlus) coming close to taking the top spot from Samsung.Xiaomi is No.5 with a slight shipment decrease, while Motorola, LG and Tecno close the top 10 list.
Sachei is accompanied by the vice president, Sub- Saharan Africa, Justin Maier, general manager for West, East & Central Africa, Joseph Umunakwe and CFO, Sub-Saharan Africa, Michael Miano in his East Africa tour.
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