info.afrindex.com
China-Africa Trade Information Service
info.afrindex.com
China-Africa Trade Information Service
Image from africafeeds.com
Until October 2018, Rwanda's mobile phone users reached 9,665,544, but most of them did not use smartphones and the Internet penetration rate in Rwanda has reached 47.7%.
The Maraphones are now on sale and were launched to the world at a Tech summit in Paris.
Africa now has a smartphone manufactured on the continent in a smartphone factory in Rwanda.
The new smartphone factory for the production of the Maraphones was officially opened in April.
Android Oreo is an OS optimized for apps like YouTube Go, Facebook Lite and Twitter Lite that are made for the African market.
Mr. Thakkar revealed that there are plans to roll out another plant in South Africa. Mara Corp. is reported to be investing USD$100 million in such expansion projects.
The establishment of the smartphone factory is expected to create some 20,000 direct and indirect jobs in Rwanda.
Currently some firms are assembling smartphones in countries such as Kenya, South Africa's and Egypt.
But this is the first time a smartphone is not being assembled in Africa but all the parts manufactured on the continent.
Rwanda's decision to host the factory by Mara Corporation has now put the county at the forefront of Africa's digital revolution.
The country's minister of information and communication technology Paul Ingabire had said that "Smartphones are important ICT tools since there are some digital services that only require smartphones, such as access to land services among others."
