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Airtel | |
Formerly | Airtel Africa Limited (2018–2019) [1] |
Company type | Public |
Industry | Telecommunications |
Predecessor | Zain Africa B.V. |
Founded | 8 June 2010 |
Headquarters | London, England, UK [2] |
Area served | Africa |
Products | |
Services | Africa's leading provider of prepaid, postpaid mobile, & 4G services. |
Revenue | ![]() |
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Total assets | ![]() |
Total equity | ![]() |
Parent | Bharti Airtel (67.2%) |
Subsidiaries |
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Website | airtel |
Airtel Africa plc is an Indian multinational company that provides telecommunications and mobile money services in 14 countries in Africa, primarily in East, Central and West Africa. Airtel Africa is majority owned by the Indian telecommunications company Bharti Airtel. Airtel Africa offers mobile voice and data services as well as mobile money services both nationally and internationally. Airtel Nigeria is the most profitable unit of Airtel Africa, due to its cheap data plans in Nigeria. As of March 2019, Airtel had over 99 million subscribers in the continent. [4] It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. [5]
In May 2008, it emerged that Airtel was exploring the possibility of buying the MTN Group, a South Africa-based telecommunications company with operations in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East. The Financial Times reported that Bharti was considering offering US$45 billion for a 100% stake in MTN, which would be the largest overseas acquisition ever by an Indian firm. However, both sides emphasised the tentative nature of the talks. The Economist magazine noted, "If anything, Bharti would be marrying up", as MTN had more subscribers, higher revenues and broader geographic coverage. [6] However, the talks fell apart as MTN Group tried to reverse the negotiations by making Bharti almost a subsidiary of the new company. [7]
In May 2009, Airtel confirmed that it was again in talks with MTN and both companies agreed to discuss the potential transaction exclusively by 31 July 2009. [8] Airtel said "Bharti Airtel Ltd is pleased to announce that it has renewed its effort for a significant partnership with MTN Group". [9] The exclusivity period was extended twice up to 30 September 2009. Talks eventually ended without agreement. [10]
A solution was proposed where the new company would be listed on 2 stock exchanges, one in South Africa and one in India. However, dual-listing of companies is not permitted by Indian law. [11]
In Jun 2010, Bharti struck a deal to buy Zain's mobile operations in 15 African countries for $8.97 billion, in India's second-biggest overseas acquisition after Tata Steel's US$13 billion buy of Corus in 2007. Bharti Airtel completed the acquisition of on 8 June 2010, making Airtel the world's fifth-largest wireless carrier by subscriber base. Airtel reported that its revenues for the fourth quarter of 2010 grew by 53% to $3.2 billion compared to the previous year. The newly acquired Africa division contributed $911 million to the total. However, net profits dropped by 41% from $470 million in 2009 to $291 million 2010 due to a $188 million increase in radio spectrum charges in India and an increase of $106 million in debt interest. [12]
On 18 November 2010, Airtel rebranded itself in India in the first phase of a global rebranding strategy. The company unveiled a new logo with 'airtel' written in lower case. Designed by London-based brand agency, The Brand Union, the new logo is the letter 'a' in lowercase, with 'airtel' written in lowercase under the logo. [13]
Airtel acquired the Uganda business of Warid in 2013. [14]
On 11 August 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. [15] 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. [16] [15]
Bharti Airtel was awarded a licence to operate mobile services by the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency in September 2011. [17] Airtel Rwanda Limited launched services on 30 March 2012. [18] Airtel announced that it had reached an agreement with competitor Millicom to acquire complete control of Tigo Rwanda at a reported cost of $60–70 million in December 2017. [19] [20] The acquisition made Airtel the second largest mobile operator in Rwanda with a 40% market share. [21] The company operated as Airtel-Tigo following the merger, until it was rebranded as Airtel Rwanda in January 2020. [22] [23]
Bharti Airtel announced on 4 June 2019 that it would seek to raise $750 million through an initial public offering for Airtel Africa under which the company would be listed on the London Stock Exchange. [24] [25]
Airtel Africa operates in the following countries:
Country | Subsidiary | Remarks |
---|---|---|
![]() | Airtel Chad | Airtel Chad is the #1 operator with 43% market share. [26] |
![]() | Airtel DRC | Airtel had 1 million customers in 2014. [27] |
![]() | Airtel Gabon | Airtel Gabon has 829,000 customers and its market share stood at 61%. [28] |
![]() | Airtel Kenya | Airtel Kenya is the second largest operator and has about 9 million customers. [29] |
![]() | Airtel Madagascar | Airtel holds second place in the mobile telecom market in Madagascar, has a 39% market share and over 1.4 million customers. [26] |
![]() | Airtel Malawi | Airtel Malawi is the market leader with a market share of 72%. [26] |
![]() | Airtel Niger | Airtel Niger is the market leader with a 68% market share. [26] |
![]() | Airtel Nigeria | Airtel is the 3rd largest operator with 33,376,556 subscribers, behind Globacom (37,268,483) and MTN Nigeria (61,280,293) as of Nov 2016. [30] |
![]() | Airtel Congo B | Airtel Congo is the market leader with a 55% market share. [26] |
![]() | Airtel Rwanda | Airtel launched services in Rwanda on 30 March 2012. [31] |
![]() | Airtel Seychelles | Airtel has over 55% market share of mobile market in Seychelles. [32] |
![]() | Airtel Tanzania | Airtel Tanzania is the market leader with a 30% market share. [33] |
![]() | Airtel Uganda | Airtel Uganda stands as the #2 operator with a market share of 38%. [26] |
![]() | Airtel Zambia | Airtel Zambia has a 40.5% market share. [34] |
Airtel began operating in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone after acquiring Zain's Africa operations in June 2010. [35] Airtel and French telecom company Orange S.A. signed an agreement in July 2015 for the sale of the former's operations in Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Chad and Congo-Brazzaville to the latter. In January 2016, Airtel announced that it had entered an agreement to sell its operations in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone to Orange. The value of the deal was not disclosed, but analysts estimated it to be US$800–900 million. The agreement on the sale of operation in Chad and Congo-Brazzaville lapsed. [36] [37] Orange assumed control of operations in Burkina Faso in June 2016 and Sierra Leone in July 2016. [38] [39] [40] [41]
Airtel began operating in Ghana after acquiring Zain's Africa operations in June 2010. [35] On 4 March 2017, Airtel and Millicom International Cellular agreed to merge their operations in Ghana (Airtel Ghana Ltd and Tigo Ghana Ltd) to create the country's second largest mobile operator, with the two companies holding an equal stake in the merged entity. [4] [42] On 27 October 2020, Airtel announced that it planned to exit its business in Ghana, and that it had entered into "advanced stages of discussions" for sale of shares in AirtelTigo to the Government of Ghana. [43] AirtelTigo Ghana was sold in October 2020 to the Ghanaian government for $25 million. [44]
One Network is a mobile phone network that allows Airtel customers to use the service in a number of countries at the same price as their home network. Customers can place outgoing calls at the same rate as their local network, and incoming calls are free. [45] As of 2021 [update] , the service is available in Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo Brazzaville, Gabon, India, Kenya, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. [46] [44]
In March 2021, Airtel Africa sold an undisclosed minority fraction of its Airtel Money business, to San Francisco-based private equity firm TPG Capital, at a contract price of US$200 million. TPG is investing in the Airtel Money business of Airtel Africa, through its subsidiary, The Arise Fund. [47] Shortly after, in early April 2021, Airtel Africa sold an additional undisclosed minority stake of Airtel Money to Mastercard for US$100 million. [48]
Telecommunications in Burkina Faso include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet.
Telecommunications in Ghana include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet.
Sunil Bharti Mittal is an Indian billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He is the founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises, which has diversified interests in telecom, insurance, real estate, education, malls, hospitality, Agri and food besides other ventures. Bharti Airtel, the group's flagship company is one of the world's largest and India's largest telecom company with operations in 18 countries across Asia and Africa with a customer base of over 399 million. Bharti Airtel clocked revenues of over US$18 billion in FY2023. In 2023 he was ranked the 10th richest person in India by Forbes, with an estimated net worth of US$14.8 billion.
Celtel was a telecommunications company that operated in several African countries. It was founded by Sudanese-born Mo Ibrahim.
The individual member states of the African Union (AU) coordinate foreign policy through this agency, in addition to conducting their own international relations on a state-by-state basis. The AU represents the interests of African peoples at large in intergovernmental organizations (IGO's); for instance, it is a permanent observer at the United Nations' General Assembly.
Millicom International Cellular SA is a Luxembourgish fixed line and mobile telecommunications services provider operating in Latin America operating under the Tigo brand. Its main shareholder is Xavier Niel, a French billionaire who owns 29.14% of the company.
Bharti Airtel Limited is an Indian multinational telecommunications services company based in New Delhi. It operates in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa, as well as the Channel Islands. Currently, Airtel provides 5G, 4G and LTE Advanced services throughout India. Currently offered services include fixed-line broadband, and voice services depending upon the country of operation. Airtel had also rolled out its Voice over LTE (VoLTE) technology across all Indian telecom circles. It is the second largest mobile network operator in India and the second largest mobile network operator in the world. Airtel was named India's 2nd most valuable brand in the first ever Brandz ranking by Millward Brown and WPP plc.
Mobile Telecommunications Company K.S.C.P. is a Kuwaiti mobile telecommunications company founded in 1983 in Kuwait as MTC, and later rebranded as Zain in 2007. Zain has a commercial presence in seven countries across the Middle East with 52 million active customers as of 31 September 2023. The Vice Chairman and Group CEO is Bader Nasser Al-Kharafi, who was appointed in March 2017.
Airtel Tanzania Limited is the third-largest mobile network operator in Tanzania operated by Airtel Africa, which is a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel of India, behind Vodacom Tanzania and Tigo Tanzania. As of September 2017, Airtel Tanzania had 10.6 million voice subscribers. As of December 2017 according to data provided by the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority, Airtel Tanzania controlled 27.1 percent of Tanzania's mobile telephone market by customer numbers, at that time estimated at 10.86 million.
Tigo is a telecommunication company in Tanzania.
India–Rwanda relations are the foreign relations between the Republic of India and the Republic of Rwanda. India is represented in Rwanda through its High Commission in Kigali which opened on 15 August 2018. Rwanda has been operating its High Commission in New Delhi since 1999 and appointed its first resident High Commissioner in 2001.
Orange Money is the mobile phone based money transfer service of French telecom company Orange S.A., available in most of the group's affiliates in Africa. Its users can deposit money into an account linked to their mobile phone number, and then access a range of services, in particular transferring money domestically and internationally, paying bills and buying airtime top-up.
IHS Towers is one of the largest telecommunications infrastructure providers in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East by tower count and the fourth largest independent multinational tower company globally.
Airtel Uganda Limited is a mobile communications and information technology services provider in Uganda. The company also offers mobile funds transfer and banking services known as Airtel Payments Bank. Airtel Uganda Limited is a subsidiary of Airtel Africa PLC.
Burkina Faso–India relations refers to the international relations that exist between Burkina Faso and India. Burkina Faso maintains an embassy in New Delhi. India maintained an embassy in Ouagadougou from November 1996 until its closure in July 2002. Currently, India maintains an honorary consulate in Ouagadougou, which functions under the jurisdiction of the High Commission of India in Accra, Ghana.
India–Sierra Leone relations refers to the international relations that exist between India and Sierra Leone. India maintains a High Commission in Freetown. Sierra Leone does not have a resident diplomatic mission in India. The Sierra Leonean embassy in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates is accredited to India.
Airtel Networks Limited (Airtel Nigeria), commonly known as Airtel, is a leading mobile network operator in Nigeria. According to the Subscribers statistics released by Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on 30 August 2019, Airtel Nigeria has 26.8% mobile telephone market share and 46.8 million subscribers. The company is a subsidiary of Airtel Africa, the holding firm for Bharti Airtel's operations in 14 countries in Africa.