Vodacom Tanzania has launched a campaign, ‘Tikisa Ushinde’ in a bid to increase usage of self-service online channel (My Vodacom App) and increase smartphone adoption.

Vodacom’s Director of Digital and Value Added Services, Nguvu Kamando, said that the campaign complements previous initiatives by the company to increase access and use of smartphones among its over 15 million customers.

The company has previously rolled out initiatives such as credit facility services for customers who want to purchase smartphones at Vodacom shops, as well as the introduction of subsidised smartphones into the market in partnership with smartphone manufacturers.

“The ‘Tikisa Ushinde’ Campaign is a step further to ensure our customers are making use of the high-speed internet and other digital services available on My Vodacom App ,” said Kamando. “Customers can also engage with interactive Tikisa Ushinde promo where they can win different giveaways.”

In March this year, ITWeb Africa reported on the International Data Corporation’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, according to which Africa's overall mobile phone market declined 10.0% YoY in 2020, due in large part to the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the first half the year.

In its statement the IDC explained that QoQ, South Africa led the way in the smartphone space, with shipments increasing 16.3% in Q4 2020. The Nigerian smartphone market grew 12.1% QoQ, while Egypt's growth was much slower at just 1.8%.

"South Africa imposed a total market lockdown in Q1 and Q2 2020, causing a build-up of pent-up demand that led to high growth rates in Q3 and Q4 2020," said George Mbuthia, a research analyst at IDC. "In Nigeria, Chinese vendors were keen on pushing high volumes of units during Q4 2020 when the dollar rate was stable. Egypt, on the other hand, experienced a slow growth rate due to high sell-in in Q3.

In April Vodacom Tanzania launched ‘VodaBima’ – a digital service to give customers immediate access to insurance services, with the aim of driving up adoption of insurance solutions in the market.

In a statement released to the media, the company references a Finscope report 2013 which found that insurance uptake in Tanzania was at 13.0% having doubled from 6.8% in 2009.

Despite the double digit growth, Vodacom Tanzania believes insurance to be one of least utilised financial services in Tanzania. Reasons range from low awareness, mistrust of the service and bottlenecks to access the services.