 | |
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Founded | 1998 |
| Defunct | September 8, 2007 |
| Fate | Acquired by Zain |
| Headquarters | Amsterdam, Netherlands |
Key people | Mo Ibrahim, Chairman |
| Products | G.S.M.-related products |
| Parent | Zain (2006-2008) |
Celtel was a telecommunications company that operated in several African countries. It was founded by Sudanese-born Mo Ibrahim.
Originally known as "MSI Cellular Investments", the company began operating in 1998. In January 2004, the company name was changed to "Celtel International".
In April 2005 the company was acquired by and became a subsidiary of Zain (formerly the Mobile Telecommunications Company). At the time it was purchased by Zain in April 2005, Celtel 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 September 2006 Celtel launched "One Network", the world's first borderless network across East Africa, this was possible due to the Gateway license for Data which Kenya Data Network had acquired. KDN provided Celtel with a cross border link to Uganda and with trunk capacity to Belgacom. With these links Celtel was no longer required to pass its traffic through the gateway of the monopoly in Kenya. One Network enabled its subscribers in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania to roam free between these countries, thereby scrapping roaming charges, making calls at local rates, receiving incoming calls free of charge, and recharging with local top up cards. [1]
In June 2007 Celtel's One Network was extended to Gabon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Congo. The One Network automatically activated upon crossing the geographical border into one of the six countries with no prior registration or sign-up fee.
In June 2007, Celtel International announced plans to add three more Celtel country networks to its "One Network". The additional countries were Malawi, Sudan (where it operated under the Mobitel brand), and Zambia. This further expansion brought the coverage of One Network to nine of the 15 African countries in which Celtel operated. [2]
In September 2007 Celtel's Parent Company MTC Group adopted a new name Zain (Arabic for ‘beautiful, good and wonderful) unifying its different brands in 22 Countries. [3]
In October 2007 Celtel International Acquired a 75% stake in Western Telesystems LTD (Westel) from the Ghanaian Government for $120 million US Dollars. [4]
On 22 November 2007 Celtel doubled its One Network countries from 6 to 12 countries by adding Burkina Faso, Chad, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria and Sudan. [3]
In April 2008, Zain planned to expand its "One Network" across its 22 operations by end of June 2008. [3]
The One Network is still operated in Africa today by Bharti Airtel in association with Zain and Cell C.
On 29 March 2005, Zain Group, then known as Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC), announced that it would acquire 85% of Celtel International for US$2.84 billion with the option of acquiring the remaining 15% after two years for US$520 million. [5] This acquisition dampened the thought that the Pan-African mobile communications group would list its stock on the London and Johannesburg Stock Exchanges through an IPO. [6]
1 August 2008 saw the entire African operations of Celtel being rebranded from Celtel to Zain. This marked the end of the Celtel brand. [3]
Telecommunications in Burkina Faso 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 chairperson 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$14.75 billion in FY2016. In 2023 he was ranked the 10th richest person in India by Forbes, with an estimated net worth of US$14.8 billion.
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Zain Jordan is part of the Zain Group currently serving over 32 million active customers across the Middle East and Africa. Effective September 8, 2007, Zain is the new corporate master brand name for the Group, the leading mobile telecommunications provider in the Middle East and Africa. The Group now operates under the Zain brand in Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain and Sudan. In Iraq, it is currently known as mtc-atheer; in Lebanon, as mtc-touch; and in 14 sub-Saharan countries in Africa as Celtel: Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
Bharti Airtel Limited, commonly known as Airtel, 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 all over 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.
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