Lenovo to debut Africa smartphone

China’s Lenovo Group (0992.HKG, LHL.FRA, LHL1.FRA) said it is planning to sell smartphones in Africa by the end of the year, Bloomberg reported. Lenovo, the world’s second biggest manufacturer of personal computers, said it would begin selling phones in Nigeria because it won’t have to work with local telecoms to sell the devices. The company chose not to launch in South Africa, Africa’s largest economy, because of the excessive regulatory burden. Lenovo says it will launch its phones in Egypt after Nigeria because of its huge population and relatively open market.