MTN Nigeria boosts 5G adoption with smartphone financing

By Chisom Nwatu

…partners Intelligra, Stanbic IBTC, OEMs, others

MTN Nigeria is beefing up its 5G adoption in Nigeria with a plan that allows Nigerians to own 5G-powered smartphones, the telecom company said on Wednesday.

The telecommunications giant is partnering with Intelligra, an open platform for smartphone financing, Stanbic IBTC, and Slot Distribution Company  to make it easy for Nigerians to acquire smartphones.

The smartphone financing initiative is also supported by Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) such as Samsung, TECNO, Nokia, Infinix, iTel, among others.

High cost of smartphones, especially 5G-enabled ones, has been a major barrier to 5G adoption in Nigeria, according to industry experts. MTN said it has also discovered this as a major challenge, which informed its decision to embark on this initiative.

With this innovation, which is coming to MTN Nigeria customers for the first time, customers will be able to have access to 4G and 5G smartphones of their choice and pay over a long period without any initial deposit, the telco said.

“Smartphones have become the computer for many Nigerians today. Unfortunately, the high costs of these devices have made them out of reach for many. Factors such as forex fluctuation, chipset shortages, and inflation are continuously driving up the cost of phones,” Adia Sowho, chief marketing officer, MTN Nigeria, said at a press conference in Lagos.

She added that existing financing initiatives come with many challenges, which include high-interest rates and upfront initial deposits.

“We began our partnership with Intelligra in January 2022 and we have opened over 200 channel outlets where people can walk in and get a smartphone with zero initial deposit and repayment overtime with airtime. Through this initiative, we have financed over 20,000 devices. With the launch of 5G, MTN is deepening its partnership with Intelligra to drive 5G mobile device growth,” Sowho said.

“By 2023, we want to achieve 1,000 units of devices daily transactions even as we onboard more outlets, especially in the North,” she added.

Tayo Ogundipe, chief executive officer of Intelligra, said smartphone financing is an initiative that is prevalent in many developed countries, enabling people to acquire any device of their choice and pay over time.

“With our smartphone financing programme, we want to empower more people to own smart devices, not only in Nigeria but across Africa,” he said.

MTN Nigeria launched 5G in September this year, becoming the first and only network operator to have done so in Nigeria and making Nigeria the third African country to deploy the technology after South Africa and Kenya.

The 5G technology, an upgrade to 4G currently being delivered by all network operators in the country, enables much faster speeds and lower latency, giving customers near-instant access to the things they care about and downloads that take seconds, instead of minutes.

However, to receive the 5G signal many Nigerians currently using 4G phones will have to change to 5G-enabled devices.