Twenty-three year old John Njenga, like many of his colleagues at the University of Nairobi, has never owned a laptop.

Njenga is one of the few owners of iPhone 3, in his class and enjoys bragging rights as an owner of one of the slickest, simplest, best-integrated smartphones available today.

“With an iPhone 3, I can basically do all the things guys love to do using a laptop,” says Njenga, who received the iPhone 3 as a birthday present from one of his friends in the United States.

Njenga and other owners of smartphones in East Africa are the new drivers of increased data usage over connected mobile devices.

According to studies by various research and consulting firms, among them Arieso and Deloitte, data usage is expected to increase sharply in East Africa, following a rise in demand for smart phones.

The phones have become a hub of digital content and services, attracting many consumers.

In fact, smartphones such as Apple’s iPhone and phones using Google’s Android system are now seen as premium products compared with the basic “feature phones” common in the region.

Thanks to the low-cost chip technology, the phones, initially viewed as a rich man’s toys, have quickly become affordable.

In East Africa, for example, prices, had been the main barrier for the widespread adoption of mobile devices. However, in the recent past, the region has benefited from cutthroat competition as mobile phone manufacturers jostle to expand their market share by unveiling different types of models, giving the potential buyer a wide range of options to choose from.

“Data usage is expected to increase as smartphones are gatherers of data. At some point, people will move away from voice and concentrate more on data,” says Muriuki Mureithi, the chief executive officer of Summit Strategies.

In Kenya, for example, leading mobile telephony operator, Safaricom has been making special offers for mid range smartphones and the response from the public, according to the company, has been positive.

“The country has registered increased sales year-on-year particularly in the mid range smart phones and data use is expected to increase,” said Safaricom chief executive officer Bob Collymore.

In 2010, Safaricom entered into a partnership with Huawei to launch the ideos mobile phone powered by Google Android, which has performed well in the market. The company also sells other types of smartphones among them Samsung and Nokia.

Orange Kenya, on the other hand, is the sole distributor for Apple’s iPhone. The company also sells other types of high-end phones.

Orange Kenya’s chief corporate communication officer, Angela Nganga-Mumo, attributes increased sales to deals made by telephone operators and manufacturers, which have reduced the prices of such phones.

“Most of the deals have been on mid-range smart phones, mainly those priced between $100 and $300,” said Ms Nganga-Mumo.

Such deals are also common in other East African countries like Uganda and Tanzania. A similar view is expected in Rwanda, following the entry of Airtel, which will use its low price strategy to up customer numbers.

In fact, phonemakers from China, such as ZTE and Huawei, have been busy introducing lower-cost phones with smartphone characteristics targeting the increasing middle income population in Africa.

Telecom experts argue that a sharp rise in data consumption by smartphone users will definitely result in increased demand for bandwidth, putting pressure on mobile telephone operators to speed up capacity investments.

Some already see the data explosion as a serious challenge, mainly to developing countries, and are concerned that if not managed carefully, some operators will run into major problems threatening their profitability and viability.

There are also fears that mobile networks in some parts of East Africa are not designed for such heavy traffic. Base stations, for example, can only handle a certain amount of data, which must be shared by all users in a given area.
If everyone in a particular area, for example, uses their iPhone, Samsung Galaxy or Nokia N97 at lunchtime to watch video, the network can experience slower connections or service outages.

Social networks

In fact, the problem is complicated by the numerous applications that come with smartphones, which have given consumers an opportunity to enjoy a wide range of services compared with normal feature phones.

“Smartphones encourage data usage,” adds Mr Mureithi.

The use of social networks, like Google+, Twitter and Facebook, as platforms to exchange messages, photos, videos and download files has increased the demand for data services.

Mobile operators Safaricom, Airtel and Orange, have the necessary 3G technology to tap into the lucrative data services market and are already in stiff competition for customers.

According to Mr Collymore, the popularity of the social media is playing a major role in driving traffic in the company’s data services section.

Despite the increase in demand neither Safaricom nor Orange Kenya, does not see a major threat in terms of capacity.
“The country has the biggest broadband capacity in the East African region,” he said.

“We are capable of handling increasing demand,” added Ms Nganga-Mumo.

However, she adds, it is good to plan ahead as demand will continue increasing.

Though many experts agree with the sentiments of the two telephone operators in terms of capacity, some are of the view that increased demand for data usage will put strain on the operators.

“There will be some initial stress in terms of equipment used, as the numbers of smartphones in use continue increasing,” said Peter Wanyonyi, a telecoms analyst.

Normally, there are three different types of services a consumer can access on a network. According to Mr Wanyonyi, voice is normally given priority in a network, followed by short text messages and lastly data.

“Data consumes more bandwidth than voice or sms and that is why it is not normally top on the list of priorities,” says Mr Wanyonyi.

According to the IT consultant, smartphones are, however, playing a role in the shift of priorities, and have helped make data services a major source of revenue for many operators.

“In Kenya and other East African countries, at the moment there are more revenues to be made in data services than in voice,” he adds.