Uganda imports phones worth Shs125 billion in 2018 first half
Phones have become an important factor of communication in the last 10 years in Uganda. PHOTO BY ERONIE KAMUKAMA
What you need to know:
Most imported phone. Tecno topped the list of most imported in the first half of 2018 for the period running to June 30. China was the leading source country with phone imports worth Shs113.5b.
Tecno imported more phones than any other brand in Uganda in the first half of 2018 beating the likes of Samsung, Nokia and Apple that had dominated the market over the years.
The Chinese phone maker, according to data obtained from Uganda Revenue Authority, imported about 22 million handsets followed by Itel with 12.5 million and Nokia. Samsung came in at fourth with 7.2 million while Apple came in at a distant sixth with 707,567 handsets.
Infinix, Alctel, Admet, Huawei and HTC round off the list of 10 most imported phones in the first of 2018 for the year ended June 30.
China was the biggest source of phone imports in the period under review, bringing in stock worth Shs113.5b. It was followed by Vietnam and United Arab Emirates, which contributed phone imports worth Shs7.6b and Shs173.6m, respectively.
South Korea and United States, respectively complete the list five of Uganda’s five biggest source markets for phones.
Other source countries include United Kingdom, Ethiopia, India and South Africa, among others.
In the period under review, Uganda imported phones worth Shs125.7b. This was slightly above the Shs116b that the country imported in the same period last year.
Vietnam overtook United Arab Emirates as Uganda’s second largest source country in the period ending June 30.
From Africa, Ethiopia topped the list with Shs53m worth of phone imports followed by South Africa with Shs4m.
Mr Hudson Kalema, the URA acting public and corporate affairs manager, told Daily Monitor majority of the imports are smart phones and carry two or more Simcards.
“Most of these [imported] phones are low cost and they are sourced from countries that are mainly accessed by Ugandan traders,” he said.
Globally, Huawei overtook Apple to become the world’s second-largest smartphone seller behind Samsung in the second quarter, the first time in seven years.
Huawei leapfrogged Apple to second position, based on the number of devices both companies shipped out for the year ended June 30.
The Chinese tech giant shipped out about 54.2 million handsets, according to Bloomberg, a news website, registering a 40.9 per cent year-on-year growth. Apple shipped about 41.3 million units, posting about 0.7 per cent growth compared to the same period last year.
Samsung remained the global market leader with 20.9 per cent market share after shipping out 71.5 million devices in the same period.
Smart phones have played a big role in easing communication in Uganda, pushing massive growth in internet penetration, which currently stands at 18.7 per cent.
According to data from Uganda Communications Commission, Uganda has about 17 million Internet users, majority of which access the service through smart phone.
The smartphone market has been a largely competitive segment in the last five years as phone markers leverage on the rapid growth of social media and new technology such as mobile money, to extend their reach.
