Huawei plans to boost market share in Kenya

NAIROBI - China's Huawei said Monday it plans to foster all small segments in order to boost its market share in Kenya.

Huawei Technologies Kenya Managing Director Derek Du told Xinhua in Nairobi that the multipronged approach will enable the firm to maximize sales.

"Previously we focused either on the low-income or high-end segment, but now our new strategy will see us to focus on all consumer segments due to our large handset variety," said Du. In 2016, the technology firm had a 14 percent market share.

"Our target is that in the next five years, we expand our market share to 30 percent," Du said, adding Huawei will not only focus on marketing efforts but also on producing quality phones for the Kenyan market.

Early this month, Huawei launched the Y series phone that targets the low-income segment of the population.

"The Y series will enable us to capture the large and growing demand by the youth for entry level smartphones," the managing director said.

A few years ago, the Chinese telecommunication firm discontinued manufacturing feature phones in favor of smartphones.

"The main reason is due to the growing trend by consumers to demand phones with access to internet and social media browsing capabilities," he said.

The tech giant has invested heavily in Research and Development (R&D) in order to come up with innovative phones that meet consumer needs.

Du noted that his firm spends approximately 14 percent of its revenue on R&D annually in order to stay internationally competitive.

Globally, Huawei maintains 15 R&D centers, out of which 12 are focused on developing new mobile devices.