| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Founded | 2010 |
| Products | Mobile Services |
| Revenue | INR 59,467 Crore (2011)[1] |
| Parent | Bharti Airtel |
| Website | Africa.Airtel.com |
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.[2]
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On 14, February 2010 a statement issued by Zain 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.[3]
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."[4] 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.[5]
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.[6]
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."[7]
On 30 November 2011, Airtel announced it acquired its 50 millionth mobile customer in Africa,[8]within 17 months of acquiring Zain Telecom's Africa operations.
Airtel Africa operates in 17 countries in Africa.
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'.
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.
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.[9]
Airtel Ghana had about 1.76 million subscribers at the end of 2010.[10]
iWallet, a new online payment service has been launched by Dream Oval Ltd in partnership with Airtel Money. The service will enable users to make and receive payments for products and services online. iWallet will also allow local merchants to expand across the internet and make their products available for sale to customers across the country.
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.[11]
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.
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 IBM, 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.
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."
Airtel Nigeria started operations as Econet Nigeria. Econet was rebranded to Vodacom, 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'.[12]
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. 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."[7]
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.[13]
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 Seychelles.[6] 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.[14]
Airtel officially launched their brand in Sierra Leone 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.[15]
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 Ericsson, 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.[16]
Bharti Airtel 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.
Airtel has also unveiled its new brand identity across its sixteen African operations including Zambia. 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.
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 and the second amongst the French-speaking African nations, after Senegal.[17]
Airtel said that the 3G launches for Kenya[18] and Sierra Leone[19] will take place in September 2011. The remaining 6 countries would also get Airtel 3G services as soon licences are issued for them.[20] 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 is a borderless mobile phone network 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.[21] 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 |
| 26 | South Africa | Cell C |
| 27 | Egypt | Mobinil |
Airtel money is a Mobile Commerce service that allows you to access services that include
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.[22]
Airtel conceptualised a unique football property across its 16 markets in Africa that supported talent and provided a platform to gain football skills and have a chance to become football stars in each country. The cooperation and support of all stakeholders uplifted these stars onto a world stage.
Airtel Rising Stars[23], an ambitious Pan African soccer talent programme that focussed on identifying and nurturing budding soccer talent from the grassroots onto a national stage. The program provided a platform for upcoming soccer talent under the age of seventeen to showcase their skills to leading scouts, coaches and have an opportunity to further their football skills. The initiative targets boys and girls across the country and supported by one of the world’s leading soccer teams, Manchester United.