The partnership would give new and existing customers of AirtelTigo a new SIM card, minutes to call AirtelTigo lines and data for the purchase of any Huawei phone in AirtelTigo shops or an authorised Huawei dealer shop nationwide.

A statement issued by the Integriti News Agency, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, in Accra, explained that the free data and voice minutes for customers would, however, vary based on the price of the Huawei phone.

"While enjoying the free data and voice for every month for a year, customers will have to dial *536# to activate the offer for the first month and recharge their lines with GHS2 and above every month, it said," it quoted the Chief Operating Officer at AirtelTigo, Murthy Chaganti.

"This is yet another step in our ongoing journey to make life simple for our customers. Our partnership with Huawei is part of our long-term plan to partner with multiple smartphone makers to boost our efforts of increasing smartphone usage and ensure millions of Ghanaians have access to the internet

Mr. Chaganti stated that with AirtelTigo's wider network coverage and affordable internet connectivity, the company was delighted to support efforts to increase access to the internet through its innovative products such as "Big Time Data Bundles" to make the lives of many Ghanaians simple, the statement said.

Commenting on the partnership, Simon Liuxinwu, the Country Manager, West African Countries (Huawei – Consumer Business Ghana), said Huawei Consumer Business Ghana aimed at rapidly driving growth in the smartphone industry.

"We simply want to enrich the Ghanaian surfing experience with high technology smartphones and we believe partnering AirtelTigo will help make this a reality."

Huawei moved its way into a clear number two spot as the only smartphone vendor at the top of the market that saw volumes grow during first quarter of 2019.

"Impressively, the company had year-over-year growth of 50.3% in 1Q19 with volumes of 59.1 million units and a 19.0% market share," the statement said.