With continued growth in internet access in East Africa that is primarily driven by high mobile phone usage, service providers are continually coming up with new measures to increase subscribers.
As such one of Kenya’s telecom companies Airtel has partnered with Nokia to target the socially active youth market in the region with the introduction of free access to Facebook on Asha 501.
The growth in mobile data consumption can largely be attributed to the popularity of social media. This craze, particularly amongst the youth market, is encouraging companies to enter strategic partnerships to offer attractive packages and incentives to consumers as they strive to stay ahead of the game.
In a population of 40 million, there are over 9.49 million Internet subscribers in Kenya with mobile access dominating, representing 99 percent of the total subscriptions.
It’s this group of users that Airtel and Nokia are hoping to attract.
Through this partnership, Nokia is looking to grow the Asha user base, while Airtel is targeting to grow its data users. The Nokia Asha 501, which was launched last month is retailing at Shs7,999, UGX 279,900 and TZs 179,900 in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania respectively.
Nokia General Manager for East Africa, Bruce Howe, said the partnership will see Airtel subscribers who purchase the new Nokia Asha 501 smartphone enjoy free access to Facebook for three months. The zero rated Facebook access, which needs to happen via the Facebook application, will start from the first access to Facebook from the Nokia Asha 501.
“The growth of Facebook in East Africa continues to be significant, especially amongst the youth. As a company we see the enormous opportunity in the youth market and we are committed to providing innovative products and added value in this space,” said Howe.
It’s estimated that Facebook in Kenya has over 2.2million users, while Twitter has only around 500,000 users.