Airtel Africa joins Bridge Alliance:

Bharti Airtel, a leading global telecommunications services provider with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa, today announced that it will join Bridge Alliance, a leading mobile alliance that is made up of 14 operators, serving over 500 million customers.

The 17 Airtel operations across Africa will join the alliance and gain access to the latest Bridge Alliance enterprise and roaming services. “It is important to be part of a strong alliance which can enhance the efficiency of our business operations,” said Andre Beyers, Chief Marketing Officer at Airtel Africa. “Airtel Africa will benefit from joining the group as the alliance will enhance our provision of corporate solutions and forward-thinking roaming services.”

“We are very pleased to have all of Airtel Africa operations join us: this strategic partnership enables us to achieve another milestone” said Alessandro Adriani, CEO of Bridge Alliance.

“We are deeply committed to help Airtel Africa enhance its market position and gain competitive advantage. Our partnership will enable Airtel Africa to provide tailored solutions to serve enterprises wishing to procure mobile services regionally. Additionally, sharing our expertise, research and empirical evidence gathered from other markets within the Alliance, Airtel Africa will be able to deliver geographically extended, simplified and competitive data roaming and voice services.”

With a presence across 17 African countries, Airtel is the largest telecom service provider across the continent in terms of geographical reach and had over 66 million customers at the end of quarter ended September 30, 2013. Globally, Airtel is ranked as the 4th largest mobile operator in terms of subscribers.

Huawei to launch 4G service in Ethiopia:

Ethiopia's state-run Ethio Telecom said on Thursday it had picked Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, the world's second largest telecom equipment maker, to roll out a high-speed 4G network across the capital Addis Ababa.

The introduction of the service is part of a $1.6 billion deal signed in July and August between the Ethiopian firm, Huawei and ZTE, China's second-biggest telecoms equipment maker, to expand mobile phone infrastructure throughout the Horn of Africa country.

Ethio Telecom's head of communications,Abdurahim Ahmed, said, "In terms of allocation, Huawei will be responsible for the expansion of 4G in Addis Ababa, including other mobile services - the 2G, 3G, IP and the like." 

Abdurahim said the allocation plan was finalised on Wednesday.

"It is expected to benefit more than 400,000 subscribers. Within an eight-month period, the expansion project of Addis Ababa, including 4G, will be completed."

The deal, signed by ZTE in August and Huawei a month before, will enable Ethiopia to double subscribers to more than 50 million by 2015 and expand 3G service throughout the country.

Both firms will split their work along 13 expansion areas.

The contract was awarded under a long-term loan package to be paid over a 13 year period with an interest rate of "less than 1 percent", Abdurahim said.

Africa's rapidly expanding telecoms industry has come to symbolize its economic growth, with subscribers across the continent totaling almost 650 million last year, up from just 25 million in 2001, according to the World Bank.

Ethio Telecom is the only mobile operator in the country of more than 80 million people, among the last remaining countries on the continent to maintain a state monopoly in telecoms.

The government has ruled out liberalizing its telecoms sector, saying the 6 billion birr it generates each year is being spent on railway projects. Ethiopia plans to build 5, 000 kilometre of railway lines by 2020.

Bharti Airtel asks DoT to liberalise allocation of numbers:

Taking a stand in contrast to GSM industry body Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), Bharti Airtel on Friday asked the Department of Telecom (DoT) to liberalise the allocation of numbers to operators. 

As per existing guidelines, a new operator is allocated 10 lakh numbers per circle and thereafter, more are allotted based on subscriber additions. 

There is a critical need to reconsider the criteria for allocation of new number series, the country's biggest mobile operator by subscribers said. 

In a letter to DoT Secretary MF Farooqui, Airtel said, "The present policy is extremely stringent, resulting in inordinate delays, seriously limiting the customers and operators ability to seek or add new customers." 

The Cellular Operators Association of India, which represents GSM players, including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular , had recently written to DoT to allocate only 10 lakh numbers per circle to Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJIL), in accordance with current guidelines. 

As per media reports, Reliance Jio Infocomm had asked for 4 crore numbers to launch 4G operations in the country. 

RJIL holds pan-India spectrum for this service in 22 circles. 

COAI had said the existing guidelines should apply to all service providers and should be applicable to new operators. 

Airtel to acquire Warid’s Congo Brazzaville operations:

Bharti Airtel, a leading global telecommunications services provider with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa, today said that it has entered into a definitive agreement with the Warid Group (“Warid”) to fully acquire Warid Congo SA. The agreement is subject to regulatory and statutory approvals.

The agreement marks the second in-country acquisition by Airtel in Africa. It had acquired Warid’s Uganda operations earlier this year. The latest acquisition will make Airtel the largest mobile operator in Congo Brazzaville with around 2.6 million customers. At present, Airtel is the second largest operator in the country with over 1.6 million customers, while Warid is the third largest with around one million customers.

The agreement aims to bring together the strengths of Airtel and Warid in Congo Brazzaville and benefit customers in the form of affordable tariffs, superior 2G/ 3G network, affordable voice and data services and superior customer care. In addition, existing Warid customers in Congo Brazzaville will join Airtel’s global network of over 280 million customers and enjoy the benefits of ‘One Airtel’ network with affordable roaming rates across Africa and South Asia, besides other exciting bouquet of innovative 2G and 3G services.

MTN Cameroon now counts 8.2 million subscribers:

MTN Cameroon now counts 8.2 million subscribers in the country, for a market share of 58.1%. This was announced by the President and CEO of the MTN Group, Sifiso Dabengwa, while reporting the financial results of the Group for the third quarter of the year. Dabengwa revealed that MTN, the leading emerging market mobile operator, has increased its subscriber base by 1.1% to 203.8 million subscribers in 22 countries across Africa and the Middle East, thus confirming its position at the forefront of global technological changes, delivering a bold, new Digital World to its customers.

Amongst the 22 countries, MTN Cameroon delivered a particularly encouraging performance, increasing its subscriber base 7,0% to 8,2 million subscribers and maintained its market share of 58,1%. This was attributable to a wide range of bonus offers and effective dormancy management. An improved distribution channel also contributed to the operation’s performance. During the same period, MTN Cameroon also registered a 30.9% growth of Mobile Money subscribers.

Since the beginning of the year, MTN Cameroon’s distribution network of products and services has been enriched with five new proximity Service Centres located in the towns of KOUSSERI, YAOUNDE and DOUALA, increasing its number of customer touch points nationwide to 15, with the most recent inaugurated on 17 October in BONAMOUSSADI, DOUALA. This is in addition to the thousand sales points of the chain of partners of its distribution network.

Since the year 2000, MTN Cameroon says it has invested over 500 billion francs CFA to build in Cameroon, a state-of-the-art, reliable, robust and an extended telecommunications network, to contribute to the development of the country. In 2012, the company reached the symbolic number of 1000 BTS sites, thus being the first company to reach this technological milestone in its market. The MTN network now covers all the 10 Regions of Cameroon including Divisions and Districts, and provides communication services to 90% of the national population, allowing it to strengthen the links between Cameroonians and the rest of the world.