Equity Bank Partners with Orange to Offer Affordable Devices
By Peter Omondi
Nairobi---As the costs of data access continue to fall, Orange, Kenya’s third mobile operator yesterday completed the package by addressing the issue of affordable devices. In this regard, Orange entered into a partnership with Equity Bank, Kenya’s fastest growing commercial bank, to provide loans for the purchase of smartphones and laptops.
According to the partnership deal, Orange will provide the devices throughout their shops countrywide while Equity Bank will finance their acquisition. Orange CEO Mickael Ghossein noted that availability of affordable devices has been a hurdle for many Kenyans and this deal ensured that it would no longer be an impediment.
There are slightly over 3 million Internet users in Kenya and over 20 million mobile subscribers. According to the recent Census report, a paltry 3 per cent of the Kenyan households have a computer while 62 per cent own at least a mobile phone.
“In our estimation, the ownership of mobile phones with Internet access could be much lower”, Ghossein said.
The credit facilities for the purchase of devices will be available to those with an Equity Bank account. Customers will identify the device to acquire, apply for a loan and once approved, will take possession of the device and then repay the bank in easy installments spread throughout a period of 12 months.
Equity Bank’s Chief Executive Officer Dr James Mwangi said the bank, with branches all over the country, would avail affordable and flexible credit terms so that more Kenyans can access the laptops and hence bridge the digital divide especially in the rural areas.
“I am challenging Kenyans and especially the academic fraternity to take advantage of the arrival of the submarine fibre optic cables to spearhead innovation in ICT and create more employment opportunities for Kenyans entering the job market every year”, said Dr Mwangi, adding: “The academic fraternity is a key plank in driving a knowledge-based economy to improve national prosperity and Kenya’s global competitiveness. We hope teachers, students and the youth including business people will take advantage of this offer. This partnership will further our progress towards attaining our country’s vision of being a middle income economy by 2030”.