NAIROBI, Kenya, July 11 – Opera has, over the past few years, evolved to become a top multi-platform web browser.
With recent investments and an expansion bid, Capital Business sought comments on the company’s investments in Kenya and the continent.
Below is an excerpt of the conversation:
What motivated Opera to expand its product portfolio in Kenya
Opera was among the first pioneering tech companies to invest in the African market, having established its presence there over 17 years ago.
Recognizing the immense potential of the region, Opera made a strategic decision to expand its business operations and investments in Africa, a commitment that we have continued to honor to this day.
In fact, we are further intensifying our efforts to deepen our roots on the continent.
We know the continent has a bright future, with massive potential that it’s rushing to fulfill.
For example, Africa is the fastest-growing continent in terms of internet penetration; over 180 million new users are expected to come online just in the next 5 years, a growth rate of more than 30%.
Africa’s young population, improving internet infrastructure, and rapid smartphone adoption are all contributing factors to this exciting, exponential growth.
How does Opera Mini’s data-saving capabilities benefit users in Kenya, especially those with limited internet access
In response to the pressing needs of the African market, Opera rolled out its highly popular mobile data-saving browser, Opera Mini.
This innovative solution was designed to address the challenges faced by locals, given that the cost of data in Africa is among the highest in the world.
Recognizing the urgent need for a browsing solution that is not only fast but also data-efficient, Opera stepped in to fill the gap.
Thus, Opera Mini was created as a practical and reliable tool that enables users to browse the web with ease while consuming less data.
Can you tell us more about Opera’s Free Data Campaigns in Kenya
With the advent of the pandemic and the subsequent shift to online activity across the globe, Africans were once again confronted with the challenge of high data costs and limited access to online learning, work, and socialization.
In response, Opera forged strategic partnerships with leading telecom companies across Sub-Saharan Africa, aimed at providing people with free browsing through Opera Mini.
Working closely with MTN and Airtel in Nigeria, Safaricom and Airtel Kenya in Kenya, and MTN South Africa, Opera has been able to offer nearly 40 million people across five African countries, including Kenya, up to 3 GB of free browsing each month.
This initiative has helped to empower users throughout the continent, enabling them to establish businesses, connect with loved ones, and embark on educational journeys, all with greater ease and affordability.
What challenges did Opera face in implementing these campaigns, and how did the company address them
The main challenges on the market are low digital penetration and limited digital literacy, as well as high data costs and infrastructure limitations.
Opera is determinedly facing these obstacles to provide relevant solutions for the market.
For example, to address low digital penetration, Opera created the tailored-to-market data-saving browser Opera Mini, which provides Kenyans faster browsing for less data.
The browser is not only perfect for different devices, including the simplest ones, but also helps users prolong their browsing while saving up to 90% of their data.
How does Opera plan to sustain these campaigns in the long term
Having been launched over three years ago, our free data initiative has proven its sustainability.
Year after year, we continue to invest millions of dollars into our products for Kenya, making browsing faster, less data-consuming, or even free.
We are committed to maintaining strong and trustworthy relationships with our partners to continue offering users the benefit of free data.
How has the response been so far from the Kenyan public towards Opera’s Free Data Campaigns
The response has been tremendous – with over 40 million users benefiting from free browsing since the inception of the initiative – demonstrating a clear need for cheaper and more accessible mobile data.
Therefore, we are still continuing some of the partnerships and working with the providers on other relevant market solutions.
What impact does Opera hope to achieve with these campaigns, and how will it measure success
Our goal is to facilitate the growth of the African digital economy. Free Data Campaigns provide users with significant amounts of free data every month (up to 3GB a month), and all they need to do is just browse via the data-saving browser Opera Mini. Around 40 million people across five countries have benefited from free data campaigns up to now, so we consider it to have had a high impact on fostering digitalization.
Are there plans to expand these campaigns to other countries in the future
In addition to our partnership with Safaricom and Airtel Kenya in Kenya, Opera has already forged further strategic partnerships with leading telecom companies across Sub-Saharan Africa with the aim of providing people with free browsing through Opera Mini – including MTN and Airtel in Nigeria and MTN South Africa.
To date, Opera has been able to offer over 40 million people across five African countries up to 3 GB of free browsing per month.
How does Opera ensure the security and privacy of its users while providing free internet access?
Opera has always focused on users’ privacy and security, having been the pioneering company to introduce features such as a free, built-in VPN, an ad blocker, tracker blocker, cookie dialogue blocker, and much more.
Our browsers are free and no-log, so users can browse without providing any information about themselves.
Moreover, Opera is a Norwegian company, meaning it complies with EU regulations and all the strict GDPR rules and policies.
Finally, what other plans does Opera have for the Kenyan market, and how does it aim to contribute to the country’s digitalization efforts?
As mentioned, we know that Kenya, like Africa as a whole, is primed for significant growth.
As of January 2022, Kenya had more than 23 million internet users – that’s an internet penetration rate of still just 42% of the total population.
Kepios analysis indicates that internet users in Kenya increased by 7% between 2021 and 2022.
So with so much of the population still yet to cross the digital divide, we think this number will only continue to take off in the coming years – a situation that is also characteristic of East Africa more broadly.
