After releasing their Y5C and Y360 in the Kenyan market, Huawei plans to takeover the market by partnering with Telkom Kenya. Huawei has plans to reach out to more customers in Kenya. Currently, Huawei commands a 10 percent smartphone market share but it is targeting to hit the 25 percent mark by June next year.
Huawei is partnering with retailers across the country in an effort to ensure that all Huawei devices are readily available for both existing and potential customers.” As a company, we are keen on strengthening both business to business (B2B) and business to customer (B2C) strategies. We believe this new push will enable us to capture a bigger pie of the local smartphone market which continues to record massive growth due to increased Internet penetration.” Huawei Kenya Country Director, Mark Hemaobin said.
Huawei plans to takeover the market by partnering with Telkom Kenya
Telcom Kenya will be obligated to retail the Huawei Y5C device, with plans to retail the Y3C entry-level smart phones in the Telco’s shops countrywide. Currently, Huawei Kenya sells 30% percent of its devices through network operators like Safaricom, Airtel and now Telkom Kenya and 70% through open market retail partners.
Huawei in partnership with individual retailers, is also looking at setting up additional Huawei experience retail shops countrywide to add on to the Garden City store opened last month. Hemaobin noted that the company’s approach to vendor partnerships is based on trust, mutual understanding and respect; vendors get financial benefit and a good partnership.
This is the first time that Telkom Kenya is selling Huawei phones despite the two companies having been in partnership for the last five years. The initial partnership saw the Telco sell Huawei IT and Mobile Broadband in volumes of over 80,000 units.
“We are venturing into smart phone business with Telkom Kenya to reach out to more customers both existing and potential thus increase in volume and market share in the smart phone market.” Concluded Hemaobin.
“We are confident that our partnership with Huawei is a strategic step in the right direction, most especially as we continue with our network expansion agenda across the country,” says, Telkom Kenya CEO, Vincent Lobry.
Huawei is doing all it can to capitalize on the Kenyan market. Two years ago, Huawei introduced smart solutions to connect counties in Kenya. The solution is an integrated platform for sharing information and providing advanced applications services. The initiative was set to expand connectivity between counties in sectors of health, education, safety and utility management. Currently, Huawei plans to takeover the market by partnering with Telkom Kenya
