Freetel partners TD mobile to deliver quality, affordable smartphones to Nigerian consumers

Freetel, Japanese largest smartphones manufacturing company has entered into partnership with Technology Distributions Ltd (TD Mobile), the leading distributor of mobile devices in Sub-Saharan Africa to bring in Japanese smartphones to Nigeria.

This was disclosed during the launch of Freetel smartphones in Lagos recently which had Gozy Ijogun, managing director, TD Mobile; Eugene Yoshioka, vice president, global sales; Anish Mathew, head of business for Middle East/Africa, Anantha Padmabhan, head of West Africa, Freetel and representatives of TD Africa in attendance.

Speaking on the partnership, Eugene Yoshioka, vice president, International sales, Freetel said the company is glad to collaborate with TD, the most powerful and trusted partner in Africa.

“Nigeria is a key market for Freetel. We look forward to reaching out to Nigerian consumers with our latest smartphones. We plan to invest in Nigeria with full-fledged subsidiary to support sales, marketing and aftersales support,’’ he said.

Continuing, Yoshioka said, ‘‘it took three years to increase our line-ups after we formed the company but as at today, we are the number one in the market,’’ he said.

Gozy Ijogun, managing director, TD Mobile said the company has always strived to bring the latest and best technology products to Nigeria and West Africa to drive technology revolution in Africa.

‘‘At TD Mobile, we are very selective of the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) we deal with. A lot of OEMs get their products into Nigeria, make money, dump the products and run away.

‘‘We did our research and realised that Nigeria is a focus market for Freetel and they are willing to invest strongly in Nigeria because they see huge potentials in Nigeria and for that we appreciate Freetel,’’ she said.

Ijogun said the key selling point for Freetel is quality and affordability.

‘‘Freetel is Japanese and Japanese products are associated with good quality. Our market is currently flooded with different Chinese brands, so this is a differentiator for us. It’s not just that they associated with quality but they are very affordable.

Continuing, she said the recent endorsement by Google is also a testament that Freetel products are reliable.

‘‘We believe we can capture a major market share with the help of our extensive distribution reach and strategic partnership with operators, dealers and retailers.

‘‘We are excited to partner with Freetel and we look forward to working with them in future,’’ she added.

According to Yoshioka, Freetel smartphones are created by Japanese engineers with over 40years of experience and designed to give consumers world-class products at pocket-friendly prices.

‘‘The brand is focused on Japan quality, design and affordability. We ensure that the highest quality products are created by carefully managing the design, manufacturing, and even packaging, every step of the way. This attention to detail is how we make sure that consumers will benefit and receive feature rich phones.

‘‘The smartphones are Google’s GMS certified and quality checked by Japanese engineering experts. The GMS certification is the confirmation that a specific device meets Googles’ performance requirements and properly runs the Google apps,’’ he said.

While explaining why the brand decided to launch its presence into the Nigerian market and their plans in the country, Mathew Anish, Freetel head of business development and Middle East/Africa global sales group said Freetel is going to bring in quality and affordable phones which are relevant to Nigerian Consumers.

‘‘We are in 19 countries; this is going to be the largest market for Freetel has ever launched into. Japan has 130million people, Nigeria has 170million people. So, the Nigerian market is very important to us,’’ he said.

Speaking further, Anish said, ‘‘we are going to introduce four Japanese smartphones in this market. Priori 4, one of our phones has a very long lasting battery and can last for three days which is important for Nigerians. All our phones are coming with the latest android and other unique features.’’

‘‘Google put us through severe test process before this partnership and announcing us as the affordable, certified phone for Africa,’’ Anish said.

The Japanese giant phone manufacturer revealed plans to bring in four different models of its android smartphones into the Nigerian market- Ice 2, Ice 2 plus, Ice 3 LTE and Priori 4 with prices ranging from N13, 000 to N38, 000.

For consumers who appreciate quality, Freetel says the smartphones will be available in the market across 10 major cities of Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano and Ibadan from this month.

Founded in Tokyo, Japan in 2012 by a few enthusiastic telecommunications expert, the mobile company’s clear vision is to produce quality Japanese smartphones at affordable prices.

In November 2015, Freetel started its expansion program in Asia, North America, Latin America, Middle East and Africa. Currently, Freetel devices are available in 2o countries including African markets of Egypt and Ghana.

CHINWE AGEBZE