Mbale Industrial Park hosts phone-making company

The company, which hails from Dubai, has already sold at least 500,000 feature phones in Uganda, having kicked off its operations in Uganda early 2023.

In an interview, Shirley, the chairman of Mione said, "We are excited to see Ugandans welcome and embrace locally-assembled phones to meet their every communication need. Mione is proud to be part of this new journey that promotes the spirit of Buy Uganda, Build Uganda (BUBU)."

"By assembling phones locally, we not only create hundreds of jobs for Ugandans but also allow our customers to experience better products at pocket-friendly prices. Including three bestselling models AB1/AB3/AB6, all our feature phones have 2.5D drop-proof screen, a powerful flashlight controlled by side button," she added.

The Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) Q3 Market Report released in August 2023 shows that there was an increase in the use of mobile phones in the country with a net addition of 958,000 new mobile devices.

“The number of devices accessing the telecom network in Uganda witnessed a 3% growth from December 2022 to March 2023, reaching a total of 39.1 million. This surge is largely attributed to the increasing adoption of smart and feature devices, which grew by 3% quarter-on-quarter to 12.6 million and 24.5 million, respectively,” the report reads in part.

Despite the general increase in mobile phone penetration, the count of feature phones declined by 9% to 1.85 million handsets during the same period. The net addition of new mobile devices aligns with the number of new active SIM cards registered in the three months leading up to March 2023.

“The continuous trend of adopting smart and feature gadgets signals ongoing technological advancements and showcases the market’s adaptiveness to new hardware releases, such as e-sims as well as the growth in digitalization and e-commerce,” reads the report.

 While visiting the Sino Uganda-Mbale Industrial Park where the Mione assembling plant is located in August this year, President Yoweri Museveni commended firms like Mione, for the great work they are doing.

“I’m very glad the Chinese government is encouraging Chinese companies to go out and invest in Africa. I thank them so much,” Museveni said.

Established on 619 acres in Mbale City by the Tian Tang Group, Mbale Industrial Park was commissioned in 2018 by President Museveni as part of government efforts to drive industrialisation and job creation.

20 acres out of the 619-acre park have been designated for a small and medium enterprise incubation base with a total investment cost of US$80 million.

On Aug 24, President Museveni commissioned 16 more factories and made a groundbreaking for another nine at Sino Uganda-Mbale Industrial Park in Mbale City. The park currently pays about Shs4bn in taxes each year.