Operator MTN’s mobile money business in South Africa, known as MoMo, has announced plans to make 4G and 5G smartphones available on credit to prepaid customers – without the need for background credit checks.
The ‘Handset Rent-to-Own’ solution is another in a number of moves recently aimed at getting millions of South Africans to update their handsets from old feature phones.
The phones will, it is said, be made available for as little as ZAR10 (US$0.55) a day through the MoMo app, with no credit checks or paperwork required; the service uses advanced AI-driven affordability assessments.
The launch phase features 4G-enabled Samsung smartphones; other brands will follow. Users must place their order in the MTN MoMo app, where they will pay what is described as a small deposit.
This isn’t the first such initiative. MTN South Africa launched a ZAR99 (about US$5.47) smartphone deal in May. At the time MTN CEO Charles Molapisi told news service TechCentral, that the MTN network had about 85% smartphone penetration, meaning five or six million customers on the network did not have smartphones, in many cases because they could not afford them.
Meanwhile the country is gearing up to switch off 2G and 3G technologies by December 31, 2027, making 2G and 3G phones owned by many low-income users redundant. The government wants to free up radio waves for 4G LTE and 5G networks.
This deadline and the issue of affordability are key drivers for what are described as MTN’s proactive steps to connect as many South Africans as possible.
