NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, March 2, 2015

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Orange launched a digital offer called Klif for under US$40, bundling a smartphone, data, voice and text bundle. The solution will be available across Africa and the Middle East.

Orange has launched Klif for under US$40, bundling a smartphone, data, voice and text in one for its African and Middle Eastern footprint. Ten offer is claimed to set “a new benchmark in price that will act as a major catalyst for smartphone and data adoption across the region”.

The 3G Firefox OS smartphone is exclusive to Orange and will be available from Q2 in thirteen of Orange’s markets in the region, including, but not limited to, Egypt, Senegal, Tunisia, Cameroon, Botswana, Madagascar, Mali, The Ivory Coast, Jordan, Niger, Kenya, Mauritius and Vanuatu.

The launch of the offer follows a successful history in delivering and marketing smartphones in the region with Orange witnessing a doubling of smartphone sales in 2014, representing a 35 percent slice of total handset sales. Since launching its first smartphone in the region in 2013, Orange has sold more than a million smartphones to date, attributable to Orange’s strategy to launch the right device at the right price to the right customer. With the Orange Klif digital offer, Orange is addressing a new market segment for the first time that to date, has found access to the mobile internet unaffordable.

Orange has also experienced a burgeoning demand for data that has seen a 44% year-on-year rise in mobile data revenues in the last quarter of 2014.

“Although the smartphone revolution is well under way across the African continent, there remains a proportion of the population that so far has been underserved, not just because of the cost of handsets, but because of concerns about data costs. By scooping up all the costs into one, incredibly priced digital offer, we hope that critical access to the mobile internet and all the opportunities that that opens up, will be within reach of many more people,” commented Yves Maitre, Executive Vice President of Connected Objects and Partnerships, Orange.