Airtel Africa
Encyclopedia
Airtel Africa is the collective name given to the African operations of Indian telecommunications company Bharti Airtel
. Airtel Africa ended November 2011 with over 50 million customers across 16 countries.
Ghana, said "the Board of Directors of Kuwait's Zain Group, after its meeting on February 14, 2010, issued a resolution to accept a proposal received from Bharti Airtel Limited (Bharti) to enter into exclusive discussions until 25 March 2010, regarding the sale of its African unit, Zain Africa BV." The offer was for $10.7 billion. The deal would provide Bharti access to 15 more countries in the region, adding around 40.1 million subscribers to its already 125 million-plus user base. The combined revenue of the two entities would be around $12 billion.
The deal ran into hurdles after the government of Gabon
had come out against the deal, but later approved the sale. The government of Congo Republic had also said Bharti-Zain deal broke law. There was also a dispute about minority ownership of Zain's operations in Nigeria
, the biggest market in the deal. Minority shareholder Econet was seeking to overturn a 2006 deal by Zain - then called Celtel - in which it bought a majority stake in Nigerian mobile operator Vee Networks Ltd, now Zain Nigeria. On 8, June 2010, Bharti said the Nigeria ownership dispute had been settled.
On 8, June 2010, Bharti Airtel, in the largest ever telecom takeover by an Indian firm, completed a deal to buy Kuwait-based Zain Telecom's businesses in 15 African countries for $10.7 billion. The transaction is the largest ever cross-border deal in an emerging market and will result in combined revenues of about $13 billion." The overall integration should be complete by the end of this financial year.
On September 1, 2010, Chairman and Managing Director Sunil Bharti Mittal said that Bharti Airtel Ltd would change its Africa operations brand from Zain to Airtel by 23 November 2010.
On August 11, 2010, Bharti Airtel announced that it would acquire 100% stake in Telecom Seychelles for US$62 million taking its global presence to 19 countries. Telecom Seychelles began operations in 1998 and operates 3G, Fixed Line, ship to shore services satellite telephony, among value added services like VSAT and Gateways for International Traffic across the Seychelles under the Airtel brand. The company has over 57% share of the mobile market of Seychelles
.
On 8 September 2011, Bharti Airtel announced that it had been awarded a licence by the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency to operate 2G and 3G GSM mobile services in Rwanda
. With this licence, the company's footprint across the African continent will expand to 17 countries. The company plans to invest over USD 100 million in its operations in Rwanda over the next three years. Sunil Bharti Mittal, CMD of Bharti Airtel said, "We are pleased to be part of the vision of the government of Rwanda to take telecommunications forward as a priority. We will work with the Government to bring affordable and best in class mobile services that add value to the lives of people of Rwanda and contribute towards bridging the digital divide in the country." Minister in the President's Office in Charge of ICT, Dr. Ignace Gatare said, "We are entering an exciting era in telecommunications in Rwanda, which entails bringing advanced broadband wireless services at more competitive prices and allowing more people in rural areas to access mobile technology...this also marks the largest investment out of India into Rwanda and will be invaluable in enhancing the economic cooperation between the two nations."
On 30 November 2011, Airtel announced it acquired its 50 millionth mobile customer in Africa,within 17 months of acquiring Zain Telecom's Africa operations.
The operator has also partnered with telecommunications infrastructure suppliers such as Nokia, Siemens, Ericsson, Huawei among others to extend its network to rural areas which are at present disconnected from the world and ensure that Airtel has the best quality network in Ghana and becomes the leader in Africa by 2015.
Unveiling the new brand in Ghana, Philip Sowah, Managing Director of Airtel Ghana made the promise of making mobile communications affordable for all by launching a bundle of products made up of a new Nokia phone plus Airtel Sim card, talk time and SMS credits that is effectively free.
Airtel Ghana had about 1.76 million subscribers at the end of 2010.
Bharti Airtel Ltd.’s Kenyan unit will focus on reducing call rates and expanding its customer base after changing its name to Airtel Kenya from Zain Kenya, a company official said. Airtel plans to keep costs down in Kenya by sharing infrastructure with existing players and through its partnerships with service providers including IBM Corp., Huawei Technologies Co. and Nokia Oyj, said Rene Meza, managing director of the Kenyan unit. “The tariffs will remain low due to lower overall cost of operations as we enjoy economies of scale through these partnerships,” Meza said at the press briefing. Airtel suffered losses as a result of the reduction in call charges, though the company is keen for those tariffs to remain low as it seeks to grow market share, Meza said.
Airtel Kenya will begin rolling out 3G services in the first quarter of 2011 as part of a push for more customers and a return to profit at its unprofitable African operations. New products will include e-mail and e-commerce services, Rene Meza, managing director of Airtel Kenya, said in an interview on November 22, 2010 in Nairobi. Airtel is considering subsidizing laptops and Internet-enabled handsets to drive data use in East Africa’s biggest economy, he said. “We have finalized planning for 3G and we expect to have the services rolled at the end of the first quarter, which will change mobile telephony in the country,” Meza said.
Airtel Kenya competes with Safaricom Ltd.
, Kenya’s biggest mobile-phone company, and Telkom Kenya
, a unit of France Telecom
.
, Tech-Mahindra
, Ericsson
and Nokia
who have established their operations to provide subordinate services to Airtel. Mittal
was accompanied on his visit by Bharti Airtel’s international Chief Executive Officer Manoj Kohli.
, South Africa’s second largest telecommunication brand. However, Vodacom did not last a week in the Nigeria. The development prompted Nigeria’s first GSM brand to operate in the country without identifiable corporate name and strategy for over two months. The circumstances created Vmobile, which was made up of a group of Nigerian entrepreneurs who vowed never to let the brand exit without a fight. They (Vmobile) led the unbranded Vmobile to the threshold of MTC, owners of Celtel brand that later acquired the Vmobile and rebranded it, Celtel in Nigeria. Two years after the success story of Celtel, Zain announced takeover of the Celtel brand from MTC across Africa and Middle East. It would be recalled Celtel in 2006. But two years later, precisely on August 1, 2008, Celtel made the way for Zain following the global acquisition of Celtel International by MTC Group, which transformed to Zain.
In just another two years interval, Zain was acquired by Bharti Airtel and rebranded for the sixth time to 'Airtel'.
. The company plans to invest over USD 100 million in its operations in Rwanda over the next three years. Sunil Bharti Mittal, CMD of Bharti Airtel said, "We are pleased to be part of the vision of the government of Rwanda to take telecommunications forward as a priority. We will work with the Government to bring affordable and best in class mobile services that add value to the lives of people of Rwanda and contribute towards bridging the digital divide in the country." Minister in the President's Office in Charge of ICT, Dr. Ignace Gatare said, "We are entering an exciting era in telecommunications in Rwanda, which entails bringing advanced broadband wireless services at more competitive prices and allowing more people in rural areas to access mobile technology...this also marks the largest investment out of India into Rwanda and will be invaluable in enhancing the economic cooperation between the two nations."
On 23 September 2011, Airtel announced the appointment of Marcellin Paluku as the country manager in Rwanda. Paluka, with over 15 years experience at FMCG and telecom companies including Coca-Cola and Celtel and having worked across the continent, was the commercial director at Airtel DRC.
. Airtel announced plans to invest US$10 million in its fixed and mobile telecoms network in the Seychelles over three years, whilst also participating in the Seychelles East Africa submarine cable (SEAS) project. The US$34 million SEAS project is aimed at improving the Seychelles’ global connectivity by building a 2,000 km undersea high speed link to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.
on November 19, 2010 and is the most innovative mobile phone operator in the country. Airtel Sierra Leone introduced the BlackBerry®™ Enterprise service.
Airtel Sierra Leone on the 25th February 2011 were worthy recipients of a certificate by the Independent Media Commission for their support to the commission and for their relentless sponsorship of the commission’s awards ceremony since its inception in 2005. Mr. Kelvin E Kellie, Airtel’s Head of Corporate Communications was in acceptance of the certificate on behalf of company.
, Huawei
and Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN)
to extend its network to underserved areas. He added that Airtel was looking to expand its group subscriber base by 150 percent by 2013 to 100 million customers across Africa. To help boost take-up in rural areas, Airtel has unveiled a new package in Tanzania offering an Airtel SIM card, Nokia 1280 phone and the equivalent value in Airtel talktime and SMS text messages for TZS 39,000.
entered one of Africa’s most competitive markets that Sunil Bharti Mittal, the chairman of Bharti Airtel, referred to as “the continent of hope and opportunity.”
The east African country has a competitive telecommunications market with six GSM operators. The market is dominated by the local subsidiary of South Africa's MTN Group controlling more than half of the subscriber base. Uganda’s telecom sector is considered by current operators as crowded. There are seven players; MTN, Zain, Uganda telecom, Warid, I-Telecom, Smile and Orange.
According to the Uganda Communications Commission(UCC)
, the telecom industry regulator, revenues from the sector are forecast to increase at an annual rate of 25-30 percent over the next five years, underpinned by a rapid uptake of internet services.
. Bhart Airtel Limited Chief Executive Officer and Joint Managing Director MANOJ KOHLI said the rebranding will see more employment opportunities created in Zambia. Airtel Zambia Managing Director FAYAZ KING said Airtel is committed to bridging the digital divide in the country by expanding to rural areas. said Airtel will introduce 3G
internet services to its customers.About 150 million US dollars will be spent in network expansions.
On 25 October 2011, Airtel launched 3G services in Congo. This was the first 3G service launched in Central Africa
and the second amongst the French-speaking African nations
, after Senegal
.
Airtel said that the 3G launches for Kenya and Sierra Leone will take place in September 2011. The remaining 6 countries would also get Airtel 3G services as soon licences are issued for them. The company wants to tap the African 3G market with a special focus on video services, as it sees a huge demand for video based services there.
One Network allows customers travelling to One Network countries to make outgoing calls/SMS at the same rates as local customers and recharge with local top-up cards or with home network top up cards while using the same number and SIM. Incoming calls however are charged at between $0.03 - 0.15 depending on the country the call is received from.
Airtel offers the service to customers its Africa customers travelling to any of the following 27 countries. In seven of these countries, the One Network is operated in partnership with other mobile operators. They are also listed below.
Transfer money from your mobile phone to another mobile phone recipient wherever you are, any time you want
Top up your mobile phone or another customer's mobile phone
Access and manage your Bank Account
Pay for your utility bills.
Bharti Airtel
Bharti Airtel Limited , commonly known as Airtel, is an Indian telecommunications company that operates in 20 countries across South Asia, Africa and the Channel Islands. It operates a GSM network in all countries, providing 2G or 3G services depending upon the country of operation...
. Airtel Africa ended November 2011 with over 50 million customers across 16 countries.
History
On 14, February 2010 a statement issued by ZainZain
-People:*as a given name in general , orwith a first name of Zain*Zain Abbas , a Pakistan-born cricketer*Zain Amat , a Singaporean trapshooter*Zain Awan , an India-born Arab TV journalist...
Ghana, said "the Board of Directors of Kuwait's Zain Group, after its meeting on February 14, 2010, issued a resolution to accept a proposal received from Bharti Airtel Limited (Bharti) to enter into exclusive discussions until 25 March 2010, regarding the sale of its African unit, Zain Africa BV." The offer was for $10.7 billion. The deal would provide Bharti access to 15 more countries in the region, adding around 40.1 million subscribers to its already 125 million-plus user base. The combined revenue of the two entities would be around $12 billion.
The deal ran into hurdles after the government of Gabon
Gabon
Gabon , officially the Gabonese Republic is a state in west central Africa sharing borders with Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, and with the Republic of the Congo curving around the east and south. The Gulf of Guinea, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean is to the west...
had come out against the deal, but later approved the sale. The government of Congo Republic had also said Bharti-Zain deal broke law. There was also a dispute about minority ownership of Zain's operations in Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
, the biggest market in the deal. Minority shareholder Econet was seeking to overturn a 2006 deal by Zain - then called Celtel - in which it bought a majority stake in Nigerian mobile operator Vee Networks Ltd, now Zain Nigeria. On 8, June 2010, Bharti said the Nigeria ownership dispute had been settled.
On 8, June 2010, Bharti Airtel, in the largest ever telecom takeover by an Indian firm, completed a deal to buy Kuwait-based Zain Telecom's businesses in 15 African countries for $10.7 billion. The transaction is the largest ever cross-border deal in an emerging market and will result in combined revenues of about $13 billion." The overall integration should be complete by the end of this financial year.
On September 1, 2010, Chairman and Managing Director Sunil Bharti Mittal said that Bharti Airtel Ltd would change its Africa operations brand from Zain to Airtel by 23 November 2010.
On August 11, 2010, Bharti Airtel announced that it would acquire 100% stake in Telecom Seychelles for US$62 million taking its global presence to 19 countries. Telecom Seychelles began operations in 1998 and operates 3G, Fixed Line, ship to shore services satellite telephony, among value added services like VSAT and Gateways for International Traffic across the Seychelles under the Airtel brand. The company has over 57% share of the mobile market of Seychelles
Seychelles
Seychelles , officially the Republic of Seychelles , is an island country spanning an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar....
.
On 8 September 2011, Bharti Airtel announced that it had been awarded a licence by the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency to operate 2G and 3G GSM mobile services in Rwanda
Rwanda
Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
. With this licence, the company's footprint across the African continent will expand to 17 countries. The company plans to invest over USD 100 million in its operations in Rwanda over the next three years. Sunil Bharti Mittal, CMD of Bharti Airtel said, "We are pleased to be part of the vision of the government of Rwanda to take telecommunications forward as a priority. We will work with the Government to bring affordable and best in class mobile services that add value to the lives of people of Rwanda and contribute towards bridging the digital divide in the country." Minister in the President's Office in Charge of ICT, Dr. Ignace Gatare said, "We are entering an exciting era in telecommunications in Rwanda, which entails bringing advanced broadband wireless services at more competitive prices and allowing more people in rural areas to access mobile technology...this also marks the largest investment out of India into Rwanda and will be invaluable in enhancing the economic cooperation between the two nations."
On 30 November 2011, Airtel announced it acquired its 50 millionth mobile customer in Africa,within 17 months of acquiring Zain Telecom's Africa operations.
Burkina Faso
In April 2005, Celtel was acquired by and became a subsidiary of Zain (formerly the Mobile Telecommunications Company). At the time, the company had about 24 million subscribers in 14 African countries. On 8 June 2010, the company was purchased by Bharti Airtel from Zain. On 22 November 2010, it was rebranded as 'airtel'.DRC
In the DRC, airtel replaces the Zain brand and comes with the promise of delivering high quality customer benefits through the scale of the global airtel brand. Bharti Airtel is planning to spend $400 million to improve its network in the DRC over the next three years. We are looking to expand our reach to the most rural areas, according to Antoine Pamboro, Airtel’s managing director in Congo.Ghana
Bharti Airtel on November 22, 2010 officially launched their brand in Ghana at the Banquet Hall in Accra, after taking over the operations of Zain. Bharti Airtel is pumping 200 million dollars to expand its operations in Ghana and has also planned to bring its ecosystem of global partners to the country which could result in additional employment opportunities.The operator has also partnered with telecommunications infrastructure suppliers such as Nokia, Siemens, Ericsson, Huawei among others to extend its network to rural areas which are at present disconnected from the world and ensure that Airtel has the best quality network in Ghana and becomes the leader in Africa by 2015.
Unveiling the new brand in Ghana, Philip Sowah, Managing Director of Airtel Ghana made the promise of making mobile communications affordable for all by launching a bundle of products made up of a new Nokia phone plus Airtel Sim card, talk time and SMS credits that is effectively free.
Airtel Ghana had about 1.76 million subscribers at the end of 2010.
Kenya
Airtel Kenya is the second largest mobile phone operator in Kenya. It has 4 million subscribers as on January 15, 2011.Bharti Airtel Ltd.’s Kenyan unit will focus on reducing call rates and expanding its customer base after changing its name to Airtel Kenya from Zain Kenya, a company official said. Airtel plans to keep costs down in Kenya by sharing infrastructure with existing players and through its partnerships with service providers including IBM Corp., Huawei Technologies Co. and Nokia Oyj, said Rene Meza, managing director of the Kenyan unit. “The tariffs will remain low due to lower overall cost of operations as we enjoy economies of scale through these partnerships,” Meza said at the press briefing. Airtel suffered losses as a result of the reduction in call charges, though the company is keen for those tariffs to remain low as it seeks to grow market share, Meza said.
Airtel Kenya will begin rolling out 3G services in the first quarter of 2011 as part of a push for more customers and a return to profit at its unprofitable African operations. New products will include e-mail and e-commerce services, Rene Meza, managing director of Airtel Kenya, said in an interview on November 22, 2010 in Nairobi. Airtel is considering subsidizing laptops and Internet-enabled handsets to drive data use in East Africa’s biggest economy, he said. “We have finalized planning for 3G and we expect to have the services rolled at the end of the first quarter, which will change mobile telephony in the country,” Meza said.
Airtel Kenya competes with Safaricom Ltd.
Safaricom
Safaricom, Ltd is a leading mobile network operator in Kenya. It was formed in 1997 as a fully owned subsidiary of Telkom Kenya. In May 2000, Vodafone group Plc of the United Kingdom, the world's largest telecommunication company, acquired a 40% stake and management responsibility for the...
, Kenya’s biggest mobile-phone company, and Telkom Kenya
Telkom Kenya
Telkom Kenya is the sole provider of landline phone services in Kenya. It was previously a part of the Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation which was the sole provider of both postal and telecommunication services...
, a unit of France Telecom
France Télécom
France Telecom S.A. is the main telecommunications company in France, the third-largest in Europe and one of the largest in the world. It currently employs about 180,000 people and has 192.7 million customers worldwide . In 2010 the group had revenue of €45.5 billion...
.
Malawi
During his visit to Malawi, Sunil Mittal said that Airtel would install up to 200 new towers by the end of 2011. He said once Airtel Malawi completes its initial investment in the country, Malawi would join the list of countries in Africa with first class networks. The coming of Airtel into Malawi has brought in other investors in the country such as IBMIBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
, Tech-Mahindra
Tech Mahindra
Tech Mahindra Limited is a provider of information technology , networking technology solutions and business process outsourcing services to the global telecommunications industry. Headquartered at Pune, India...
, Ericsson
Ericsson
Ericsson , one of Sweden's largest companies, is a provider of telecommunication and data communication systems, and related services, covering a range of technologies, including especially mobile networks...
and Nokia
Nokia
Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki...
who have established their operations to provide subordinate services to Airtel. Mittal
Sunil Mittal
Sunil Bharti Mittal , Punjabi: ਸੁਨੀਲ ਭਾਰਤੀ ਮਿੱਤਲ, born 23 October 1957) is an Indian telecom mogul, philanthropist and the founder, chairman and Group CEO of Bharti Enterprises...
was accompanied on his visit by Bharti Airtel’s international Chief Executive Officer Manoj Kohli.
Niger
Manoj Kohli said penetration rates in Niger, a poor desert nation currently in the grips of a food crisis, was one of the lowest at 10 percent to 11 percent. "If Niger is to develop, it much reach (penetration rates) of 40 percent," he said. "Our group is going to invest here to ensure that we can make the difference in telecommunications here in Niger."Nigeria
Airtel Nigeria started operations as Econet Nigeria. Econet was rebranded to VodacomVodacom
Vodacom is a pan-African mobile telecommunications company, and was the 1st cellular network in South Africa. It provides GSM service to more than 35 million customers in South Africa, Tanzania, Lesotho, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Revenue for the year ended 31 March 2008...
, South Africa’s second largest telecommunication brand. However, Vodacom did not last a week in the Nigeria. The development prompted Nigeria’s first GSM brand to operate in the country without identifiable corporate name and strategy for over two months. The circumstances created Vmobile, which was made up of a group of Nigerian entrepreneurs who vowed never to let the brand exit without a fight. They (Vmobile) led the unbranded Vmobile to the threshold of MTC, owners of Celtel brand that later acquired the Vmobile and rebranded it, Celtel in Nigeria. Two years after the success story of Celtel, Zain announced takeover of the Celtel brand from MTC across Africa and Middle East. It would be recalled Celtel in 2006. But two years later, precisely on August 1, 2008, Celtel made the way for Zain following the global acquisition of Celtel International by MTC Group, which transformed to Zain.
In just another two years interval, Zain was acquired by Bharti Airtel and rebranded for the sixth time to 'Airtel'.
Rwanda
On 8 September 2011, Bharti Airtel announced that it had been awarded a licence by the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency to operate 2G and 3G GSM mobile services in RwandaRwanda
Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
. The company plans to invest over USD 100 million in its operations in Rwanda over the next three years. Sunil Bharti Mittal, CMD of Bharti Airtel said, "We are pleased to be part of the vision of the government of Rwanda to take telecommunications forward as a priority. We will work with the Government to bring affordable and best in class mobile services that add value to the lives of people of Rwanda and contribute towards bridging the digital divide in the country." Minister in the President's Office in Charge of ICT, Dr. Ignace Gatare said, "We are entering an exciting era in telecommunications in Rwanda, which entails bringing advanced broadband wireless services at more competitive prices and allowing more people in rural areas to access mobile technology...this also marks the largest investment out of India into Rwanda and will be invaluable in enhancing the economic cooperation between the two nations."
On 23 September 2011, Airtel announced the appointment of Marcellin Paluku as the country manager in Rwanda. Paluka, with over 15 years experience at FMCG and telecom companies including Coca-Cola and Celtel and having worked across the continent, was the commercial director at Airtel DRC.
Seychelles
On August 11, 2010, Bharti Airtel announced that it would acquire 100% stake in Telecom Seychelles for US$62 million taking its global presence to 19 countries. Telecom Seychelles began operations in 1998 and operates 3G, Fixed Line, ship to shore services satellite telephony, among value added services like VSAT and Gateways for International Traffic across the Seychelles under the Airtel brand. The company has over 57 percent share of the mobile market of SeychellesSeychelles
Seychelles , officially the Republic of Seychelles , is an island country spanning an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar....
. Airtel announced plans to invest US$10 million in its fixed and mobile telecoms network in the Seychelles over three years, whilst also participating in the Seychelles East Africa submarine cable (SEAS) project. The US$34 million SEAS project is aimed at improving the Seychelles’ global connectivity by building a 2,000 km undersea high speed link to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.
Sierra Leone
Airtel officially launched their brand in Sierra LeoneSierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
on November 19, 2010 and is the most innovative mobile phone operator in the country. Airtel Sierra Leone introduced the BlackBerry®™ Enterprise service.
Airtel Sierra Leone on the 25th February 2011 were worthy recipients of a certificate by the Independent Media Commission for their support to the commission and for their relentless sponsorship of the commission’s awards ceremony since its inception in 2005. Mr. Kelvin E Kellie, Airtel’s Head of Corporate Communications was in acceptance of the certificate on behalf of company.
Tanzania
Airtel Tanzania plans to expand its network and boost market penetration, writes the Citizen Reporter citing comments from Bharti Airtel MD Sam Elangalloor. He said that that Airtel had signed contracts with EricssonEricsson
Ericsson , one of Sweden's largest companies, is a provider of telecommunication and data communication systems, and related services, covering a range of technologies, including especially mobile networks...
, Huawei
Huawei
Huawei is a Chinese multinational networking and telecommunications equipment and services company headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China...
and Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN)
Nokia Siemens Networks
Nokia Siemens Networks is a global data networking and telecommunications equipment company headquartered in Espoo, Finland. It is a joint venture between Nokia of Finland and Siemens of Germany...
to extend its network to underserved areas. He added that Airtel was looking to expand its group subscriber base by 150 percent by 2013 to 100 million customers across Africa. To help boost take-up in rural areas, Airtel has unveiled a new package in Tanzania offering an Airtel SIM card, Nokia 1280 phone and the equivalent value in Airtel talktime and SMS text messages for TZS 39,000.
Uganda
Bharti AirtelBharti Airtel
Bharti Airtel Limited , commonly known as Airtel, is an Indian telecommunications company that operates in 20 countries across South Asia, Africa and the Channel Islands. It operates a GSM network in all countries, providing 2G or 3G services depending upon the country of operation...
entered one of Africa’s most competitive markets that Sunil Bharti Mittal, the chairman of Bharti Airtel, referred to as “the continent of hope and opportunity.”
The east African country has a competitive telecommunications market with six GSM operators. The market is dominated by the local subsidiary of South Africa's MTN Group controlling more than half of the subscriber base. Uganda’s telecom sector is considered by current operators as crowded. There are seven players; MTN, Zain, Uganda telecom, Warid, I-Telecom, Smile and Orange.
According to the Uganda Communications Commission(UCC)
Uganda Communications Commission
The Uganda Communications Commission is according to its website "the regulator of the communications industry in Uganda". Among the responsibilities of the UCC are licensing, regulation, infrastructure development and attention to rural communication service. The chairman of the commission is...
, the telecom industry regulator, revenues from the sector are forecast to increase at an annual rate of 25-30 percent over the next five years, underpinned by a rapid uptake of internet services.
Zambia
Airtel has also unveiled its new brand identity across its sixteen African operations including ZambiaZambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
. Bhart Airtel Limited Chief Executive Officer and Joint Managing Director MANOJ KOHLI said the rebranding will see more employment opportunities created in Zambia. Airtel Zambia Managing Director FAYAZ KING said Airtel is committed to bridging the digital divide in the country by expanding to rural areas. said Airtel will introduce 3G
3G
3G or 3rd generation mobile telecommunications is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunication services fulfilling the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 specifications by the International Telecommunication Union...
internet services to its customers.About 150 million US dollars will be spent in network expansions.
3G
Airtel has 3G licences in 12 out of the 17 countries in Africa it operates in and offers services in 8 of them.On 25 October 2011, Airtel launched 3G services in Congo. This was the first 3G service launched in Central Africa
Central Africa
Central Africa is a core region of the African continent which includes Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Rwanda....
and the second amongst the French-speaking African nations
African French
African French is the generic name of the varieties of French spoken by an estimated 115 million African people spread across 31 francophone African countries...
, after Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
.
Airtel said that the 3G launches for Kenya and Sierra Leone will take place in September 2011. The remaining 6 countries would also get Airtel 3G services as soon licences are issued for them. The company wants to tap the African 3G market with a special focus on video services, as it sees a huge demand for video based services there.
One Network
One Network is a borderless mobile phone network across across all Airtel operating countries which enables customers to move freely between the countries in which Airtel operates, and be treated as “virtual” local customers of the visited network in terms of pricing, while retaining their home network service functionality.One Network allows customers travelling to One Network countries to make outgoing calls/SMS at the same rates as local customers and recharge with local top-up cards or with home network top up cards while using the same number and SIM. Incoming calls however are charged at between $0.03 - 0.15 depending on the country the call is received from.
Airtel offers the service to customers its Africa customers travelling to any of the following 27 countries. In seven of these countries, the One Network is operated in partnership with other mobile operators. They are also listed below.
| S. No. | Country | Network |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Burkina Faso | Airtel |
| 2 | Bangladesh | Airtel |
| 3 | Chad | Airtel |
| 4 | Channels Islands: Jersey and Guernsey | Airtel |
| 5 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | Airtel |
| 6 | Gabon | Airtel |
| 7 | Ghana | Airtel |
| 8 | India | Airtel |
| 9 | Kenya | Airtel |
| 10 | Madagascar | Airtel |
| 11 | Malawi | Airtel |
| 12 | Niger | Airtel |
| 13 | Nigeria | Airtel |
| 14 | Republic of the Congo | Airtel |
| 15 | Sierra Leone | Airtel |
| 16 | Seychelles | Airtel |
| 17 | Sri Lanka | Airtel |
| 18 | Tanzania | Airtel |
| 19 | Uganda | Airtel |
| 20 | Bahrain | Zain |
| 21 | Iraq | Zain |
| 22 | Jordan | Zain |
| 23 | Kuwait | Zain |
| 24 | Saudi Arabia | Zain |
| 25 | Sudan | Zain Zain -People:*as a given name in general , orwith a first name of Zain*Zain Abbas , a Pakistan-born cricketer*Zain Amat , a Singaporean trapshooter*Zain Awan , an India-born Arab TV journalist... |
| 26 | South Africa | Cell C Cell C Cell C is South Africa’s third cell network after Vodacom and MTN, and the first cellular provider operating a dual band GSM 900/1800 MHz network, with over 7,4-million subscribers according to recent reports in Business Day and myadsl... |
| 27 | Egypt | Mobinil Mobinil Mobinil is one of Egypt's three mobile phone operators. Founded in 1998. The company is majority-owned and fully consolidated by France Télécom , which holds 71.25% of the shares in "Mobinil Telecom," the rest of the shares being held by Orascom Telecom... |
Airtel Money
Airtel money is a Mobile Commerce service that allows you to access services that includeTransfer money from your mobile phone to another mobile phone recipient wherever you are, any time you want
Top up your mobile phone or another customer's mobile phone
Access and manage your Bank Account
Pay for your utility bills.