MTN South Africa to Roll Out $5 Smartphones to 1.2 Million Prepaid Customers

In a bold move to accelerate the shift away from legacy mobile technologies, MTN South Africa will begin offering 4G smartphones priced at just $5 to 1.2 million of its prepaid users.

The initiative forms part of a broader campaign to phase out outdated 2G and 3G networks and push nationwide digital inclusion.

The programme, announced Monday, will be rolled out in three phases starting in May 2025 and continuing through the end of 2026. Recipients must use the device with an MTN SIM card, making the initiative both a digital upgrade and a customer retention strategy.

“Regardless of where they live, we want to ensure that all South Africans can access the digital world,” said Charles Molapisi, CEO of MTN South Africa.

• Phase 1: Begins in Gauteng, where 5,000 users selected based on their usage, spending habits, and loyalty will receive the device.
• Phase 2: Expands nationally to over 130,000 users.
• Phase 3: Targets the remaining 1.1 million recipients across South Africa.

The smartphones will be preloaded with applications, though MTN has not confirmed whether WhatsApp, South Africa’s most widely used messaging app, is among them.

MTN is partnering with Smartphone For All, founded by Babatunde Osho, a former CEO of Metrofile Nigeria and an experienced tech executive. Osho brings a wealth of expertise from institutions such as the London School of Economics, Imperial College, and executive programmes at Wharton, Oxford, and IMD.

This development follows in the footsteps of Vodacom South Africa, which in late 2024 launched a cloud-based 4G smartphone priced at $13.50. The Mobicel S4, while also limited in functionality, was designed to help users transition from feature phones to modern digital services.

“The cloud phone will help customers still anchored to 2G phones and not familiar with the touch-screen experience,” said Davide Tacchino, Vodacom’s managing executive for terminals.

Mobile network operators in South Africa are under increasing pressure to migrate users off older networks and repurpose spectrum for 4G and 5G technologies. The cost of entry-level devices, however, has remained a significant barrier.

A 2022 report by the Broadband Commission noted that a smartphone priced at $62 could represent as much as 63% of the average monthly income across Africa. The report advocated for thin-client and cloud-based devices as a cost-effective gateway to digital inclusion.

MTN’s $5 smartphone strategy could help close that affordability gap. While full device specifications remain unknown, MTN has promised to reveal more technical details soon.

As the competition intensifies and telecom companies work to modernise Africa’s mobile landscape, affordable access to smartphones could prove to be a game-changing equaliser in digital connectivity.

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