Telephone device imports grow with Chinese brands leading
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Chinese telephone devices, especially Tecno brands, remain dominant as Nigerians spent $2.35 billion on phone imports in a data covering three years compiled by the International Trade Centre (ITC).
The report shows the import sums as
- 2019 – $807.95 million
- 2020 – $765.57 million
- 2021 – $772.25 million
The items included smartphones, facsimile machines for line telephony, teleprinters, and parts of telephone sets.
The data shows most of the imported phones were from China ($1.71 billion), Hong Kong, Sweden, the United States, Netherlands, Vietnam, and Mexico.
The Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) recently disclosed that about 63 million tech devices are sold in Nigeria yearly, quoting data from Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).
The NCC said there were about 132 million unique devices on telecom networks in 2020 with the average owner changing a device every six months.
Bodds IT Solutions Managing Partner Emmanuel Osho said Nigerians spend a lot on devices and the market grows larger every year.
“An average person in their 20s and 30s has like two or three devices which include laptops, phones, and others. To be honest, the market could run into billions,” he told The PUNCH.
“The second-hand product is larger because of the low purchasing power of the market. Ideally, the majority of the buyers of new devices are organisations.”
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Computer Village sells N5b devices yearly
Computer and Allied Product Dealers Association of Nigeria (CAPDAN) Public Relations Officer Solagbade Olaifa added that about N5 billion worth of devices are sold every year at Computer Village, Lagos.
“We do not have the technology to produce now, but we can fund part of it. We cannot produce as a whole because for every device, even over there, there are different companies that produce its components.
“It is not only one company that produces every component of the devices. However, Nigeria can start somewhere,” he enthused, via reporting by The PUNCH.
Annual smartphone sales in Nigeria grew 81 per cent year-on-year in 2021, according to Global Monthly Handset Sales Tracker of Counterpoint Research.
Nigeria has the seventh-highest number of phones in the world, according to the World Population Review, but it has no local phone manufacturing industry.
Its phone market is dominated by foreign brands like Tecno, Samsung, and Itel.
