The best-selling phones in Africa. Mobile communications: Europe, America, Africa, Asia ...

The third world countries are not obliged to be catching with, competing with more developed states in the development of technologies. An example of Kenya, where half of all mobile payments in the world takes place through the local system M-PESA. Although Kenyanya borrowed technology from developed countries, the African state did not just develop due to the exploitation of natural resources, but qualitatively changed internal economic relations. But how did the third world have to become the world leader in the progressive sector of payment technologies?

Kenya received independence from the UK in 1963. Although this is the most economically developed country in East Africa, 38% of Kenyans live in poverty. In terms of living, the country is located in 147th place in the world from 187 countries rating. 75% of the population are busy in agriculture. The largest export article is tea. Other important industries - tourism, food and cement industry.

In Kenya, about 14 million inhabitants have access to the Internet. This is 32% of the country's population. By the share of users among the entire population, the country ranks 129th in the world. At the same time, Kenya occupies 31 place in the world by the number of used mobile phones. 71% of the country's population is connected to the mobile.

How to work mobile payments
in Kenya?

In 2007, Kenyan operator Safaricom, a subsidiary company Vodafone, I launched the M-PESA mobile payment system ("PESA" means Suahili "Money" language). Now the system is used by 19 million inhabitants of the country (almost half of the population), and the annual turnover of M-PESA reaches 10 billion dollars. The amount of translation in it is limited to $ 500.

Use M-PESA is easy. Sign up in the system can anyone who has a phone with a local SIM card: enough to go into one of more than 60,000 operator branches, where M-PESA agents work, and start the account. The same M-PESA agents can withdraw money from a mobile account. Banking system Do not directly participate in operations, while all electronic cash flows are provided with deposits in three commercial banks. With deposits work intermediaries who serve the accounts of several agents. Accrued interest are sent to charity, which allows Safaricom to not register as a credit organization.

But main functionwhich M-PESA performs is transfers between mobile accounts. Not only individuals, but also organizations can translate money through M-PESA. With the help of M-Pesa, Kenyans pay for a taxi trip, dinners in restaurants and cafes, even for vegetables and fruits, which farmers are sold on the shelves along the roads.

Causes of the success of mobile payments in Kenya

Kenyans do not trust banks. Kenya is an agricultural country, where many families are scattered throughout the state. Branches of banks in rural areas are not enough, therefore through ordinary payment systems The money was reluctant. The basis of turnover before the appearance of M-PESA was cash, which Kenyans sent each other throughout the country. These were engaged in large bus companies, and sometimes (unofficially) and drivers of minibuses and buses, and their passengers. There were several days to wait for these transfers, moreover, there was always a risk of fraud or robbery by couriers.

mobile connection Kenya is the cheapest in Africa. Phone with inexpensive tariff plan You can buy for $ 20, and calls to anywhere in the country are less than 3 cents per minute, therefore, before the appearance of M-PESA, two thirds of the population used mobile phones, including in rural areas. Such conditions provided the country's authorities that limited the cost of calls to the number of another operator. This solution led to the price war between the operators, and the mobile communication eventually became available to most of the inhabitants of Kenya.

Inter-ethnic clashes of 2008, affected and the capital of the country. Kenymeni used mobile payments to translate money into Nairobi slums, movement on which were limited. M-PESA turned out to be a much more reliable place to store money than banks that were also involved in ethnic conflicts. Thanks to this, the number of users M-PESA has grown, and gradually the system has become popular throughout the country.

Safaricom operator - monopolist. In other developing countries, mobile payments have not become so common due to the fact that there are many players in the market. Oddly enough, the aggressive behavior of Safaricom only improved the quality of services, although it usually happens on the contrary. The system of Kenya's authorities helped the system, who decided to allow M-PESA to work as an experiment, that is, without long and costly registration procedures.

What mobile payments help the Kenya economy

Safaricom has become more services through mobile payments. Now through M-PESA Kenyans can receive loans, salary and deposit. Also using mobile phones in Kenya now pay transport, rental housing and school training. The same Kenymenians who moved to the UK can translate money to their families directly to the M-PESA accounts.

Some rural households who started saving on translations began to earn 5-30% more. If I used to spend a long time to spend a lot of time to go to the city for the money earned by the relative, now it is not necessary for this.

Kenyans began to spend more money. In the province, this positively influenced the development of small businesses - because the incomes of small village enterprises stabilized. And some rural residents began to make a living, becoming agents M-PESA. The system has affected the economy of cities: the availability of the reliable mobile payment platform led to an increase in the number of startups in Nairobi, which use M-PESA.

Life in Kenya has become safer. Previously, the Kenyans worn with them a lot of cash, which attracted thieves and robbers. The money was sent through bus drivers with the hope that the package with money would get to relatives without incidents. Cash began to use less frequently, and steal has become nothing. True, scammers appeared that use M-PESA. The most primitive way of deception is known worldwide: a message comes to the phone that it was inappropriate to transfer money to him and asked to return them.

What problems in Kenya arise due to mobile payments

M-PESA users face problems familiar to all mobile phone owners. Safaricom covers the entire territory of Kenya, but not everywhere the level of signal reception is ideal. In many rural areas, the signal may be bad enough, which leads to delay payments.

M-PESA has changed not only economic, but also interpersonal relationships in Kenya. Residents of the country began to communicate less with each other directly. This applies not only to such forms of cooperation as cooperatives, whose members now ignore meetings and simply send a share on a mobile channel, but also family relationships. Urban residents are less likely visiting relatives in the province: So, women from villages, whose husbands left for earnings in the city, complain that their spouses almost do not come home, and they are afraid that those are hardened "urban wives."

Safaricom's monopoly position occasured the power of Kenya. In June 2014, regulators issued a license to three new operators who will provide similar M-PESA services. All of them are controlled by AIRTEL, the second largest mobile operator of the country. Experts note that new systems will be difficult to compete with the industry leader who began working outside Kenya: payments through M-PESA can now be carried out in Tanzania, India and Afghanistan.

Black continent. Can you say that? African continent. Despite the fact that many consider it the place behind and largely primitive, Africa is the second mobile market in the world, after Asia. The total number of subscribers there reaches more than 1 billion people. But its specificity is still available.

Naturally, there are states such as South Africa, Egypt or Nigeria, where mobile network No one surprises. But the fact is that most residents of the continent - happy owners cell phones. More, the LTE distribution map can make the cry of any Ukrainian, who is interested in communication. In many large African countries (especially in the southern hemisphere), there are 4G.

True, the Internet is the main pain and the joy of African operators. On the one hand, on the continent the highest percentage of use mobile Internet. This is due to the high cost of other terminals for communication. On the other hand, the high cost of more advanced communicators, which support 3G or 4G, does not allow companies to fully develop in many ways a promising market. Therefore, despite the partial distribution of new technologies in large cities, the average Internet speed on the continent reaches only 10 kbps. Therefore, to improve communication, operators use WiMAX technology that gives the maximum coating at minimal costs.

As for the expansion of cellular networks, it began in the early 2000s. Three factors have become the main components of success: low cost of tubes, cheap prepages and minimized roaming. With the first two things clearly - with the poor economy it was more profitable to take a mass than quality. At the same time, the last component is a local solution of a truly important problem. The fact is that real African borders do not coincide with ethnic. Therefore, to offer residents different countries Communication among themselves on relatively cheap tariffs is really the right course, which gave an excellent result.

Due to widespread mobile operators The expansion of those institutions that were not available in other ways were actively. This was particularly affected by the banking sector, which cellular corporations were completely replaced in poor countries. A telephone account becomes a universal means to communicate with money - the subscriber not only can pay with it, but also to receive microcredit. For operators, this is akin to manna heavenly. Not only are the money in any case pass through a mobile account, so similar services tie customers, minimizing the outflow of subscribers.

Moreover, due to the popularity of such financial operations, the operators moved even to life insurance or even harvest and livestock. True, the proposal of the proposal does not differ. For example, insurance acts exactly until you have more than $ 20 on the account.

Despite the financial well-being of Europe, many analysts predict rapid growth mobile services It is on the African continent. Not surprising when operators replace banks.

Today there are 3 major operators in the country.

• Vodacom. The leader of the local "big triple" and unconditional favorite on the market. In addition, quite recently, the company won the tender for the provision of services for the country's state apparatus. Prices are high, but the quality corresponds to the stated level. However, in the mountainous areas the connection is still with interruptions. British Vodafone "daughter".
• Cellc. The company divides second place with MTN by number of subscribers: a kind of "Golden Middle" both by price and the coverage area. Stable work is guaranteed in large cities. In the savanna and mountains can, to displeasure tourists, disappear or disappear at all.
• MTN. Practically no different from Cellc, having similar price proposals and the zone of steps.

Where better to buy a SIM card

Despite certain successes in economic development, South Africa is still a very poor country. White tourists should be remembered and not too deviated from tourist routes to which it is quite possible to attribute a trip to the official salon cellular communicationwhere you can purchase a SIM card. The risk is a noble thing, but not on vacation: in the salon you are not definitely not deceived and plug into all the necessary options and tariffs.

Another SIM card can be bought in large shopping centers and supermarkets of Johannesburg and Cape Town, as well as at the airport: prepaid Vodacom and MTN sim cards in them costs about $ 1 (13 Randov). Immediately you can replenish the account by purchasing scratch cards with a face value 5, 10, 30 and 50 of the Randov.

Tariffs for cellular communication for tourists

Taking into account the ruble rate of Rande (4 rubles), the cost of calls to Russia from the main operators of South Africa looks adequate. ONLINES only vodacom - apparently, on the rights of the market leader.

If MTN and Cellc estimate a minute of conversation in 2 Rand (8-9 rubles), the British daughter requests as much as 5. True, there is an opportunity to save, paying a one-time option fee in 5 Randov and then call from the International Calling Plus service Price at 1.79 Rand per minute (about 6 rubles). In addition, another 5 Randov will be removed for this monthly.

Agree, tariffs are quite acceptable, especially compared to roaming rates from Russian cellular companies. We recommend compare and surprised.

How to call South Africa from Russia

Everything is standard, the set goes as usual when international calls: Use prefix 10 to go to the international line. Code for South Africa.

On mobile phone

• +27, hereinafter - the subscriber number (recruited without the "eight").

On landline phone

An international algorithm is used, a set through 8. Do not forget - it is also necessary to indicate the code of the settlement in which the call is coming.

An example of a call to Johannesburg:

• 8 (beep) 10-27, more than 11 (Johannesburg code) and XXXXXXX (stationary phone number).

Below are the codes of the main cities of the country, in which tourists are most often from Russia:

• Johannesburg - 11;
• Pretoria - 12;
• Cape Town - 21;
• Bloemfontein - 51.

How to call to Russia from South Africa

If we are talking about calling the city phone, then to access the international line, you must dial the appropriate prefix - 00. Next to the call, enter the code of our country - 7, as well as the prefix of the settlement, where the challenge goes. If you want to call a cellular, simply dial the number in the usual format (+7) - the challenge will go directly, since the subscriber is in Russia.

On mobile phone

No differences from the direct call - the set takes place through international format +7:

• +7, then the number of cellular subscriber without the "eight".

On our site every week there are materials dedicated to the release of new products on the smartphone market. The reader sooner or late the question arises, what was the market fate of the presented models? Which phone will be popular and beat the records of sales, and who will be dressed on the shelves of shops and warehouses?

It is clear that a full analysis of the indicators of the huge market of smartphones requires too detailed immersion in the subject, but in this cycle of articles we will still try to answer the voiced questions. Let's see which smartphones are most popular in 2018, the benefit, analytical agencies for the first half of the year and the second quarter provided a lot of curious information.

Smartphones Market 2018: Leaders

So, what smartphones are most popular? In the first approximation, I am very simple - this is Samsung, Huawei and Apple. By the way, it is in that order. But the situation becomes more complicated, and significantly, as soon as we put an additional question - where? One thing, Russia, Europe or India, and quite another - China or USA. Therefore, we propose to go to study the topic more thoroughly.

Statistics sales of smartphones 2018 in the world

The global smartphone market in 2018 is experiencing a decline in purchasing activity. Phones are bought less often, although this is not true for all regions. In the first quarter of 2018, a serious drop in sales was observed in China, the United States and Western Europe. In Central and Eastern Europe, the statistics of sales of smartphones are better - growth trend is preserved here.

The growth of smartphones in Russia was noticeable, although it is more expressed in the monetary equivalent, and not in the number of units sold. Russians began to buy more dear smartphones, good growth has demonstrated the flagship segment.

According to the results of the second quarter, the global market of smartphones 2018 has grown slightly, but in comparison with the last year, the dynamics are still negative. In China, and this is the largest smartphone market in the world, the phones are still buying less frequently than before. The growth is maintained in Africa and Eastern Europe, but here you buy too few smartphones to somehow affect general sales statistics. The growing markets include India, which is most importantly the third world market for smartphones (after China and the USA).

All this information about the markets of smartphones and dynamics will help more correctly interpret the results you see in the table. It presents the first ten manufacturers, the leaders of the 2018 smartphones market.

Smartphone Market 2018: Sales Leaders

The number of smartphones sold (million) in the world	Q2 2017.	Q2 2018.	Dynamics
Samsung	80.4	71.6	-11%
Huawei.	38.5	54.2	+41%
Apple.	41.0	41.3	+1%
Xiaomi.	23.1	33.0	+43%
OPPO.	30.5	29.6	-3%
vivo	25.8	26.0	+1%
LG	13.3	10.2	-23%
Lenovo.	10.8	9.9	-8%
HMD (Nokia)	0.5	4.5	+782%
TECNO.	2.8	4.4	+59%
Rest	98.9	75.3	-24%
Total	365.5	360.0	-2%

First place in the results of the second quarter continues to hold. But the Seoul company sold 71 million devices, which is almost 9 million less than in the second quarter of last year.

Negative dynamics are partly due to the fact that Galaxy S9 / S9 + was not so warm, as I would like to Koreans. By the way, it was for this reason that a new one was previously launched - in early August, and not at the end of summer. The second reason for the fall of the Koreans is that in China their positions are very fragile, among the leaders of sales of smartphones in the subwayless Seoul company there is no.

Watch out for the news of the smartosphere in our Instagram. There is more news, subscribe - and you will recognize them first!

Sources: ,.

N. bank card. But at the same time, millions of people are used there with ordinary mobile phones. Developers decided to create simple textual applications for them to satisfy the specific needs of local farmers, merchants and entrepreneurs.

In Africa, earn on applications for old mobile phones

Veronika Elkina

The French telecommunications company Orange SA last year opened several development laboratories in Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal, and recently launched another in Cameroon.

"It should not be considered that Africa is a lagging region that only imites the US market or Europe," said Benedict David, head of the Strategic Planning Department and Work with Orange Clients in the African Region. - What works in our country will not necessarily work here. In this region there are special needs and opportunities. "

In 57% of the population of Africa there is no mobile phone at all, only 9% have a smartphone, and 32% have an ordinary mobile phone.

Smartphones help their owners to fulfill all work causes - from editing documents before viewing sites - and also give fast access to a huge amount third-party applications. Companies and companies dominate the smartphones. Ordinary mobile phones are much easier and cheaper. These devices with a much smaller screen size are mainly used to make calls and send text messages. Nowadays, the production of ordinary mobile phones is mainly engaged in the Japanese company Kyocera Corp. And the American Blue Products.