[Interview] MediaTek commits to increasing 5G adoption in Africa with affordable chipsets
Chipmaker MediaTek has announced its commitment to driving increased 5G adoption in Africa. In a recent interview with TechTrends Media, Rami Osman, the company’s Director, Corporate Sales and Marketing MEA said the company will continue local testing to make 5G a reality.
Across Africa, the adoption of these networks has been slow with a number of telcos citing the high prices of 5G devices and regulation as the reason behind this. MediaTek says it will continue to bring devices that are ready to meet customer expectations.
The Dimensity 5G family for example is expected to power high-end smartphones launching in Kenya this year bringing 5G technology to the mass market.
‘’We are trying to be part of the future and digital inclusion of the African continent’’ Rami said. ‘’By bringing down the prices of 4G and 5G chipsets and working with MNOs (Mobile Network Operators), and local brands we’re reaching more people’’
‘’We continuously develop new innovations to help people in Africa move to new smartphones,’’ Rami added.
As of 2022, MediaTek was holding 41% of the market share. Rami says the company aims to grow this share to 46% by end of 2023 and targets 50% by end of 2024 with more international Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) such as Xiaomi, OPPO, Realme, and Samsung bringing MediaTek processors from the Hello and Dimensity families to market.
MediaTek says it will continue to collaborate with MNOs and OEM partners on newer generations of connectivity chipsets and look forward to migrating more African homes into 5G and Wifi 6 with the MediaTek T750 platform.
Globally, MediaTek has maintained a steady market share of around 35-40% thanks to the success of its Dimensity 9200 SoC in the premium segment and partnerships with major Chinese OEMs like Vivo and Oppo. This is according to data from COUNTERPOINT’s Global Smartphone Application Processor (AP) Market Share research.
Last month, the company announced the arrival of its MediaTek Dimensity 9000 5G chipset in Kenya. The chipset is the world’s first TSMC chip built on the 4nm process and uses Arm’s new v9 architecture promising users faster performance and better power efficiency.
The new Dimensity 9000 processor is expected to be used by flagship smartphones in 2022 and 2023, a premium segment that is mostly ruled by Qualcomm. TECNO’s Phantom X2 for example which is expected to launch later this month will come with this chip which is more powerful than the previous top-tier Dimensity chips of MediaTek, according to the company.
Follow us on Telegram, Twitter, and Facebook, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter to ensure you don’t miss out on any future updates. Send tips to info@techtrendske.co.ke
