There’s something very interesting about the number 85. That’s about what percentage of people in Africa live close to a mobile broadband network, which means they can get online because the signal is there and the infrastructure is there. In many places, it has been there for years. Most of those people have never even opened a browser on their phone, though. They are covered, but there is no real connection between them. The price of a smartphone is the main reason given by almost all of them.
At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in March 2026, the biggest telecom companies in Africa made a formal deal to do something about it. Making a 4G smartphone available to people in six African markets for about $40 is the clear goal, though it might not be easy to carry out. The DRC, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda were chosen as the first pilot countries. Airtel, MTN Group, Orange, Vodacom, Axian Telecom, and Ethio Telecom are the companies working on this project. Together, they serve about 800 million people across Africa.
The GSMA Handset Affordability Coalition is in charge of the project. The World Bank Group and the International Telecommunication Union are also part of this coalition. A lot of people are involved, which could mean that the institution is very important or that the committee will take years to get things done. Most likely both.
At the Barcelona event, Angela Wamola, who is in charge of Africa for GSMA, was very clear about the issue. She said that the cost of devices is one of the biggest reasons people don’t go online, and it’s not just a matter of money. “Just because they can’t find content in their own languages,” she said, bringing up an important part of the problem that is often missed. Price isn’t the only thing that matters. The question is whether using the internet makes you feel like it’s yours.
The manufacturers have already been given the requirements for the target device, which include storage space, screen size, and battery life. Wamola says that the response from vendors has been good. Talks with distributors in the pilot markets show that the $40 price point is possible for now.
That last qualifier is important. Memory costs are going up around the world, which is making cheap devices less affordable. “Because of the memory shortage, the $40 price point could slip away,” Wamola said. It’s an honest admission that shows that good intentions don’t always make it through supply chains. The coalition is also pushing governments to lower or get rid of taxes and import duties on basic 4G smartphones. South Africa did this in 2025 when it got rid of luxury taxes on cheaper devices, which caused prices to drop.
This story has a bigger plot that you should remember. According to GSMA research, only one in four Africans had a smartphone in 2024, while more than half of the world’s population did. Google and the International Finance Corporation have done studies that show Africa’s digital economy could grow from about $180 billion today to $712 billion by 2050. That path depends a lot on how many more people actually go online. If it works, a $40 phone is probably the best way to get more people online than any other single action.
It’s still not clear if the pilots will meet their price goal or their deadline. It’s not easy to predict things like rising component costs, government cooperation, and how to distribute goods in some of the world’s most complicated markets. There are, however, a certain number of countries and operators willing to sign the coalition, which is something that other groups that try to do the same thing often don’t do.
