ForgetMeNot Africa » Bharti Airtel

Airtel’s rates are not sustainable- Safaricom CEO

FMNA — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 13:11:39 +0000

Chief Executive Officer Bob Collymore has termed the ongoing price war in the mobile phone industry in Kenya as ‘morally reprehensive’. The CEO said that if left unchecked, the mobile industry in Kenya may collapse.

Collymore accused Bharti Airtel of sending a bad signal to the industry:
“The Ksh 1 ($0.0125) set by Bharti is not sustainable. If we all move in the same direction, there will be a hell of problems,” he said.

“I’m in charge of looking at the interest of my employees and shareholders which I am charged with,” he added.

Bharti Airtel to acquire Telecom Seychelles

FMNA — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 16:21:08 +0000

Bharti Airtel, Board of Directors has approved the acquisition of 100 % of Telecom Seychelles Limited, the leading telecom operator of Seychelles, for an enterprise value of USD 62 million.

With this acquisition, Bharti Airtel will expand its African footprint to 16 countries and its overall presence to 19 countries. Bharti Airtel had recently acquired the mobile operations of Zain group in 15 countries across Africa.

Mr. Manoj Kohli, CEO (International) & Jt. MD, Bharti Airtel, said, “We are delighted at the addition of Seychelles to our Africa portfolio. Telecom Seychelles has world-class operations that include state-of-the-art 3G services. These operations will benefit further by leveraging the efficiencies of scale of our African operations.”

Zain Kenya likely to rebrand as Airtel

FMNA — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:11:16 +0000

Zain Kenya faces yet another rebranding exercise, recent reports indicating that it will start trading as Airtel as soon as Indian operator Bharti Airtel acquires Zain’s African arm.

According to local publication Business Daily, the incoming owner might switch Zain’s name to its preferred brand, Airtel, a move that comes just 17 months after the African operator underwent massive rebranding on its own.

“Zain managed to break new ground with its brand because it brought its communication to the local level. Should they re-brand, they would have to maintain that focus or they would lose out to the more localized brands such as Safaricom”, commented Fred Simuyu, the chairman of the Marketing Society of Kenya.

The Indian conglomerate, run by billionaire Sunil Mittal, bid no more than $9 million for the Kenyan operation’s Kuwaiti parent company, Zain Group. If the deal is concluded, the Indian firm will acquire control over Zain’s African operations, including Kenya and expanding further into the African telecoms market.

In 2008, Zain Kenya went through a massive rebranding phase that saw its new brand unveiled in 14 African markets, in an announcement via live satellite. The company then committed to spend Sh25 billion on its rebranded network. However, industry estimates place the cost of the 2008 Zain rebranding exercise at around $28 million.

Surprinsingly, in September last year, Zain was voted first among the top 15 brands in East and Central Africa in an industry survey, alongside Nokia, Omo, Coca-Cola and Colgate, to name a few. The survey was conducted by a panel of SuperBrands independent experts and was based on market dominance, longevity, goodwill, customer loyalty and overall market acceptance criteria.