A smartphone credit scheme has been launched across central and southern Somalia to bridge the country’s digital divide.
Hormuud Telecom and Get-Phone, a device financing firm, introduced the initiative to make handsets affordable for low-income users and connect them to the digital economy.
The programme addresses an affordability gap in which smartphones and data are expensive relative to incomes, despite 70% of the population having 4G coverage.
Users can pay $0.60 per day to receive a smartphone and a daily bundle of 1GB data and 40 minutes of calls.
The first phase of the programme will see 10 000 devices rolled out by June, with a further 100 000 planned by the end of the year.
The initiative is set to scale through expansion into Puntland and Somaliland .
Furthermore, the move intends to maximise the value of the country's telecoms infrastructure, which has grown dramatically in the last two decades.
Hormuud has made significant investments in fibre optic connectivity, co-financing two subsea cables, and launching the country's first 5G service.
Analysis from the World Bank and GSMA shows that access to mobile broadband can increase household consumption by up to 8% and reduce extreme poverty by as much as 7 percentage points, while a 10% increase in broadband penetration can increase GDP by up to 1.4% in developing economies.
“For twenty years, we have built a network that we believe can transform Somalia. The barrier is not the mast in the distance; it is the handset in the pocket.
"Today, we are removing that barrier and, in doing so, delivering the last mile of infrastructure this country has been waiting for. For partners who see Somalia's potential, the scale of what we can achieve together has never been greater,” commented Ahmed Yusuf, chairman of Hormuud Telecom.
Omar Abdi, CEO of Get-Phone, added: "Somalia is one of the most dynamic, entrepreneurial societies in the world. This programme is built on the belief that when you give people access to the right tools at the right price, they will do extraordinary things with them.”
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