. . . Zain finally dissolves into Airtel
Ben Uzor Jr
Going by Nigeria’s position as the largest telecommunications market in Africa boasting of over 80 million mobile subscriptions, Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman and group chief executive officer, Bharti Enterprises has stated that the success of his firm in the continent was dependent on Nigeria. Mittal who disclosed this on Friday in Lagos at the unveiling of the firm’s new identity across 16 countries in Africa, promised to deliver high quality customer benefits through the power of the global Airtel brand.
With the unveiling of the new brand identity Airtel becomes the master brand for all the group’s 19 operations in Asia and Africa covering over 200 million customers. In Africa, Airtel replaces the Zain brand and comes with the promise of delivering high quality customer benefits through the power of global Airtel brand. Earlier this year, Bharti Airtel, fifth largest telecoms company in the world acquired Zain assets across Africa earlier this year for $10 billion.
Going forward, all future new products and services will follow the Airtel brand structure. The ZAP mobile money service will be re-branded Airtel Money with immediate effect. “Nigeria is our second largest market after India. Nigeria will make or break Airtel in Africa. This is because Nigeria is the critical key for our success here. I will like to make one commitment and one request. Let me talk about the commitment first, we will make a big difference to the way this country communicates.”
“Our passion to win in the market place has not dimmed on bit. Infact, we are fired up when we see competitors who are already dominant, who are very big, it spurs us to do something special. I and the entire management of Airtel and our worthy partners, watch us and see what we will do. My request is that you embrace us, you adopt us, and this is a good brand. One thing I want to be remembered for is that this company was good for Nigeria, it was good for Africa and it was good for the human race”.
The new Airtel brand was also unveiled in Abuja at the weekend, in the presence of Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan and Mittal. At the event in Abuja, Mittal, said that the company began its African journey by promising to deliver world-class and affordable mobile services to customers and delighting them with innovative products. “I believe we are taking a major step towards delivering on this by introducing the heart of our business - the Airtel brand - across our operations in Africa. “Our African customers will now be able to enjoy the same best-in-class brand experience as our customers across India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. “We remain committed to taking our network deeper into Africa, ensuring our services touch the common man and bridge the digital divide in the continent.
“I am confident that over the coming years Airtel will win the hearts of customers across Africa and emerge as one of most admired brands of the continent”, he explained. According to the company, the “new Airtel brand comes with a promise to meet the emerging needs of customers with innovative, affordable and relevant solutions to empower consumers, giving them the freedom to do what they choose and provide them with the tools to meet life’s daily challenges.
As part of the celebration of unveiling the new brand, Airtel also announced the launch of a new ultra low cost handset package which effectively provides a mobile phone free of charge to all new subscribers. The package, launched in conjunction with Nokia, will be priced at approx N 3,500 (USD $23) and includes a brand new Nokia 1280 mobile phone, a free SIM card and the equivalent value in free Airtel talk time and SMS text messages.
In addition, Airtel promises to launch a number of leading product innovations which focus on delivering relevant information for customers to enhance their quality of life and provide tools that will help them overcome their daily challenges. In the past four months, Airtel has already made tariff interventions in 11 of its 16 markets in Africa for the benefit of its customers. The firm has also signed agreements to extend its networks to the most remote areas which are still not connected with the outside world.
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