Safaricom has revealed that it is setting up a factory in Kenya, which will assemble between 1.2 million and 1.4 million smartphones a year, making it one the biggest players lining up to implement President William Ruto's plan of producing Africa's cheapest gadgets.
Appearing before the National Assembly’s Finance and Planning committee on Tuesday, the telco put up a spirited fight against new taxes on mobile phones as contained in the Finance Bill, 2023, arguing that it will be impossible to achieve the target price of a $ 50-smartphone (Sh6,850) since the proposed taxes will raise the cost of locally assembled smartphones to Sh11,500.
