Tecno to Assemble one of its Smartphones in Ethiopia

Hong Kong-based mobile vendor Tecno Mobile is looking to assemble one of its smartphone units in Ethiopia. The mobile manufacturer is looking to assemble the upcoming Tecno T3 in Addis Ababa. The phone will be in shops by end of July and will retail at around $350.

Speaking to Dephna who is the Tecno representative in Kenya, she said that the company has an assembly plant in Ethiopia and will look to assemble some of the units in the country after the T3.

Tecno mobile entered Ethiopia in September 2011 and already has several phone models in the Ethiopian market, all of which support Amharic, Oromiffa, and Tigrigna languages.

The Amharic UI was developed by an Ethiopian company called Information Technology Transfer Services (ITTS). The Amharic applications are compatible with all devices running on Android, according to Ayalew Aseffa who is the CEO and founder ITTS.

Currently, Tecno has over 300 employees in its 500sqm premises on Gabon Street. The company looks to move its operations to a new 1,500sqm factory in Gofa Sefer, in Addis Ababa’s Nefas Silk Lafto District.