HTC raises Egyptian market share of smartphones to 7%

HTC’s share of smartphones in the first quarter (Q1) of 2015 reached 7% compared to 5% in Q4 of 2014, according to Tarek Abdel Mohsen, Marketing Director of JoVi Tronix, HTC’s exclusive agent in Egypt. The company was planning to raise the share to 10% in the same quarter, however, restrictions on currency exchange came in the way of growth.

In a statement to Daily News Egypt, Abdel Mohsen said the restrictions imposed by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) putting a maximum value for currency exchange in dollar outside Egypt came in the way of pumping more shipments of HTC phones to the Egyptian market. He added that the volume of demand is three times higher than the offered products, which negatively affected growth rates.

In January, the CBE issued a decision to restrict dollar deposits to not more than $10,000 a day and $50,000 a month, which resulted in a crisis in the monthly deposits of many phone companies in Egypt. Some of these companies demanded raising the maximum amount to $1m in deposits a month, to be able to fill the demand of imported phones in the Egyptian market.

Abdel Mohsen expects that HTC will raise its market share in Egypt to be at 10% in the first half of this year. The smartphones market sales grow by 50,000 devices a month, which reflects the increasing rates in Egypt.

Thai company HTC started its operations as a factory in 1997, when it manufactured Palm Pre phones, as well as devices for communication services. Its success led it to manufacture its own phones in 2005.