Smartphone sales hit 1.82 million in 2012

Ben Uzor Jr

 

Smartphone sales in Nigeria more than doubled in 2012, data obtained by BusinessDay has shown. Nigerians spent an average of N92 billion buying 1.82 million smart phones in 2012, according to data obtained from GfK Retail and Technology Nigeria. These figures, according analysts reinforces earlier studies which showed that Nigeria leads its counterparts on the continent in smartphone penetration. Though the data for comparable period of 2011 was not made available, data available for the comparable period of December 2011 and December 2012 shows that smartphone sales shows that year-on-year growth rate in smartphone have more than quadrupled. 

"Over 100 million Nigeria do not have access to the internet. Many Nigerians are not going to be able to afford $500 laptop. But with an affordable smartphone with a quality screen, software and user experience, we believe that the smartphone will be the window to the world for many Nigerians", Alpesh Patel, chief executive  officer, Mi-Fone, a pan- African phone maker told BusinessDay in an interview. Speaking in the same vein, Kenneth Doghudje, managing director, Gfk RT Nigeria Limited, said, "Smartphones are a highly innovative segment embraced by the Nigerian consumer who constantly desires to acquire the latest technologies in the market”.

“Nigeria has an internet penetration rate of around 45 percent, with most people surfing the internet on their smartphones while on the move. This trend is expected to continue” Doghudje explained. The average cost of a smart phone is put at $300 to $360 (N48, 000 to N58, 000). This is within the affordable range for Nigeria’s rising middle class, analysts say. Earlier data obtained by BusinessDay Research from GfK shows an average of 21.5 million handsets was sold in Nigeria in 2012. The 1.82 million smartphones make up an average of 8.47 percent of total new phone sales in 2012. 

The 21.5 million sales figures exclude sales of “refurbished and used handsets also imported into Nigeria”. Industry analyst told BusinessDay, weekend that the steady reduction in prices will further deepen smartphone penetration as cost seems to be a huge barrier to device acquisition in Nigeria. "Prices of smartphones are likely to decline. The sub-$100 smartphone is steadily becoming a reality. Low-end smartphones are increasingly available and these types of phones will likely grow at a compound annual growth rate of 15 percent over the coming years", James Rutherford of Nokia Corporation said. 

Besides, many Nigerians carry more than one phone or carry a dual SIM phone, the earlier report showed. “Dual SIM phones made up 58 percent of all new phones or two out of every three phones sold in the Nigerian market. This translates to average of over one million dual SIM handsets sold in the Nigerian market in a year”. The dominance of the dual SIMs has been linked to the high incidence of poor network quality which has compelled most Nigerians to use more than one network provider for their phone services. But more interestingly, triple SIM phones are also beginning to make an inroad into the Nigerian market as well, with the market showing immense potential for growth of phones with more than one SIM, states the industry report. 

Smart phones carrying dual SIMs have also made an entrance into the Nigerian phone market, though they are less than 18 months into the market. The report notes that dual SIM phones were first invented by the Chinese, but has recently been adopted by the major phone manufacturers as they see its wide acceptance in the market. “These trends are expected to continue in 2013 as most subscribers continue wanting to enjoy excellent service delivery and lower tariffs by using the different networks”. 

Data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) shows that there has been a continuous increase in the number of active lines in Nigeria. Active telecoms subscriber base in Nigeria has further increased to hit 114.1 million as at the end of January, 2013, resulting in a teledensity of 81.78 during the same period. This was contained in the latest telecoms industry’s subscriber base data released by the industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission. According to the data, telecoms operators recorded additional 1.3 million active telephone lines in January 2013 alone, bringing the industry total to 114.4 million at the end of the month.