Vodafone To Sell Sub-$15 Phone in Developing Countries

 By 
Jennifer Van Grove
 on 
Vodafone To Sell Sub-$15 Phone in Developing Countries
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The Vodafone 150 and 250 handsets will retail for less than $15 and $20 respectively. While the phones are intentionally bare-boned on the feature side, they're priced for people in potentially isolated and impoverished areas who may not otherwise be able to afford mobile devices.

The low-cost devices will support voice calls, SMS and mobile payments, with the 250 model including a color screen and FM radio.

In addition to Turkey and India, Vodafone will sell the handsets in eight African nations: The Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Qatar, South Africa and Tanzania.

Vodafone's developing country mobile initiative is both hardware and infrastructure intensive. So in order to support the potential new customers and rural areas, the carrier is ramping up its wireless infrastructure to support areas where cell coverage is typically poor.

You can see the phone in action and hear about its purpose in the video below.

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