Hong Kong-based manufacturer, Tecno Telecom Ltd. (Tecno Mobile), is set to release the first Ethiopian domestically assembled Smartphone, “Tecno T3”, by mid-July.

The Smartphone is GPS enabled and will run Android 2.3. Android is a Linux-based operating system used in mobile devices including Smart phones and tablet computers.

However, while there are speculations that the device will cost about ETB 6,000 to ETB 8,000 ($334 – $445); Ethiopia Tecno Mobile said it is currently carrying out a research on the pricing of the new product.

Although the Tecno T3 features will include Ethiopian major native language as it was in other phones that were earlier released from Tecno stable, the General Manager of Tecno Mobile Ethiopia, Henry Yu, said the new phone will only support the Amharic language for the time being.

“Tecno already has several models on the market, all of which support Amharic, Oromiffa, and Tigrigna languages. The new phone will, for the time being, support only Amharic,” Addis Fortune quoted Yu.

The phone Amharic application which will work on all Android operating systems was developed by an Ethiopian company, Information Technology Transfer Services (ITTS).

CEO and founder of ITTS, Ayalew Aseffa, indicated that the software, Amharic Soft Keyboard and Messaging Application, works on all phones supporting Android. Tecno T3 also supports SMS, email and other information transferring systems, he added.

Tecno Mobile Ethiopia was established in 2006 before launching its operations in Ethiopia in September 2011 with a capital investment of more than $1 million from its parent company Tecno Telecom Ltd.