Swav makes African strides

Newsday reports.

Swav exports handsets to East Africa's largest telecoms markets - Kenya and Nigeria in West Africa, as well as Angola in southern Africa - with plans under way to expand into several other African countries.

TechZim says that as Swav steps up production, competition in the supply and sale of handsets is expected to be stiff, as Zambian telco, M-Tel, is also targeting the eastern, western and southern African markets, including Zimbabwe.

Unlike the Zambian government, which increased customs duty on foreign manufactured phones to 15% from 5% in a bid to encourage local production of phones, the Zimbabwean government has refused to do so.

Although Kenyan and Angolan markets are recording limited success, Swav is selling about 100 000 handsets in Nigeria every month. Nigeria is Africa's largest telecoms market by investment and subscriptions, Bikyamasr states.

The Swav line of products includes smartphones sold under the Swav brand on the Android platform. The Android phones have touch-screens, GPS, WiFi, cameras and 3G services.