Get-Phone sold 7,000 financed smartphones in Somalia by October 1

TL;DR: Get-Phone said it sold more than 7,000 financed smartphones in Somalia between August 1 and October 1 through its partnership with Hormuud Telecom. The company said 82% of buyers in August and September were first-time smartphone users, and it plans to expand from 12 Mogadishu branches by adding 15 more branches in South Central Somalia.

Get-Phone said it agreed a Somalia partnership with Hormuud Telecom on May 5 and began expanding sales on August 1 after receiving its first stock on July 15. The company said it operates from Taleh and through 12 Hormuud branches in Mogadishu, and sold more than 7,000 devices by October 1, or about 3,500 per month.

Get-Phone said 82% of the 7,000 devices sold in August and September went to first-time smartphone users in Mogadishu. The company said customers now receive 2GB of data per day after starting at 1GB per day, with Hormuud adding a subsidised extra 1GB, while payment rates stayed unchanged.

Get-Phone said 94% of low-income customers were meeting their repayment plans, compared with about 89% of middle-income customers. The company said its current credit scoring model uses two inputs — years on Hormuud’s network and the amount of money moved through Hormuud’s EVC mobile money platform — to generate a score from 100 to 999, with scores below 500 treated as high risk.

Get-Phone said a customer can get a financed phone, 2GB of daily data, and 30 minutes of calls for $0.85 per day, compared with about $1.20 to buy 2GB of data separately. The company said it currently works with ZTE and is onboarding Oppo and Orbit Mobile, while discussing Samsung supply, and plans to connect future credit data systems with Salam Bank, Debshil Bank, Premier Bank, IPS Bank, Somtel, and Hormuud.