TECNO, the leading mobile phone brand in Africa, today announced the launch of the latest 3G smart feature phone T901, the first TECNO device running on KaiOS, the leading mobile operating system for smart feature phones. 

This is a significant step for both companies in closing the digital divide by bringing users–previously inhibited by device affordability–online for the first time.

“Launching with TECNO is a significant milestone for both our companies,” adds Sebastien Codeville, CEO of KaiOS Technologies. “The digital divide in Africa remains large, and we’re thrilled to be working side-by-side with TECNO to eliminate it. Visit any African city and you will understand how important TECNO is on the continent, with stores on nearly every corner; we can’t wait to see the KaiOS-enabled T901 show up in all of these outlets.”

KaiOS enables a new category of affordable smart feature phones that require limited memory, while still offering a rich user experience. It supports 3G and 4G/LTE, Wi-Fi, GPS, and NFC. KaiOS-enabled phones come with popular apps and services like WhatsApp, the Google Assistant, Facebook, YouTube, and Google Maps, as well as a store for apps called the KaiStore. 

The KaiOS mobile operating system is based on HTML5 and supports open web standards like JavaScript and CSS. This means it’s easy to adapt apps created for other platforms or to develop new content from scratch. With 25 days of standby time and region-wide availability, the T901 is ready to connect millions of people in Africa to the internet for the first time.

The T901 will be available in three colours: gold, black and blue.