Mi-Fone launches low-cost handset across Africa

Commenting on the new handset, Alpesh Patel, CEO of Mi-Fone, said: "The Mi-X shows we are serious about our commitment to bringing mobile communications to the African mass market. We are calling it the Mi-X as it has been designed specifically for people on very low incomes throughout the continent. With this handset, Mi-Fone acknowledges there is a large population that has in essence been overlooked by other cell phone companies and just treated as an X.

"The latest AMPS data to be released in Africa shows that there has been a serious increase in cellphone usage and ownership, particularly in the lower segments and mostly in the LSM 1-4 sector where users rose from 36,3% to 49% between January 2006 and December 2008. We want our low-cost handsets to enable the rest of the continent to reflect a similar level of growth."

The Mi-X is part of the Mi Collection for 2009 which the company plans to gradually release over the rest of the year.