DRC: Bridging the digital divide – a credit scheme to provide low-cost smartphones to Congolese people
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, owning a smartphone remains an unattainable luxury for a large majority of the population. According to the GSMA, approximately 92% of Congolese did not have one in 2024 a figure that illustrates the extent of the digital divide. Faced with this reality, Equity Bank is offering an innovative solution: a phone financing program that allows people to acquire smartphones at a lower cost through installment payments.
The project was presented last week to Augustin Kibassa Maliba, Congo’s Minister of Digital Economy, on the sidelines of a roundtable in Washington on payment digitalization.
Equity Bank thus intends to establish a strategic partnership with the ministry to accelerate the country’s digital transformation.
“Imagine offering the Congolese people phones financed at low cost, with affordable internet access, enabling them to open bank accounts or more easily access public services,” said Willy Mulamba, Managing Director of Equity BCDC, Equity Group’s local subsidiary.
The initiative comes at an opportune time. The GSMA report “Accelerating Smartphone Adoption in Africa” (December 2025) indicates that the median price of an entry-level smartphone is around $30 USD, which is more than half of the monthly per capita income in the DRC.
For the poorest households, this cost even exceeds their total monthly income, making outright purchase nearly impossible.
Some financing solutions already exist. KaiOS Technologies, in partnership with Mobihive Lab, offers a scheme for 4G smartphones.
Operators Vodacom, Airtel, and Africell also provide installment payments coupled with airtime credit. Yet, outright purchases remain the vast majority.
Why this paradox? According to the GSMA, two major obstacles persist: low awareness of financing solutions and fear of defaulting on payments, which can lead to the repossession of the device and the loss of amounts already paid.
Equity Bank will therefore need not only to offer accessible credit but also to reassure and inform the public so that this program fulfills its promises and finally reduces the digital divide in Congo.
Gilbert FOTSO
