After months of negotiations, Bharti Airtel of India is reported to have finally concluded its acquisition of Zain. The new owners have also made a statement to the effect that Chief Oba Otudeko will be appointed as Chairman of the Nigerian operations.

Airtel is the largest cellular service provider in India, with more than 135 million subscriptions as of May 2010, the world’s third-largest, single-country mobile operator and sixth-largest integrated telecom operator.

New Delhi, June 8, 2010: Bharti Airtel Limited (“Bharti”) today took a giant step towards becoming a global emerging market telecom operator by completing the acquisition of Zain Group’s (“Zain”) mobile operations in 15 countries across Africa for an enterprise valuation of USD10.7 billion. With this acquisition, Airtel will become the first Indian brand to go truly global with a footprint that covers over 1.8 billion people. Bharti also becomes a major Indian MNC with operations in 18 countries across Asia and Africa with a customer base of over 180 million.

The transaction is the largest ever cross-border deal in emerging markets and will result in combined revenues of over USD 12.4 billion and EBITDA of over USD 4.7 billion, based on the last audited results. Bharti is now among the five largest mobile operators in the world.

Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman and Managing Director, Bharti said, “We are delighted at the closure of this transformational deal for India and Bharti. We would like to express our deep gratitude and thank the governments of all the fifteen countries as well as the government of India for their overwhelming support to this landmark event. This will further strengthen the historic Indo-Africa economic & social ties and provide a big boost to South-South cooperation.

Bharti, which has been working towards its vision of expansion into Africa, is committed to contributing to the growth of telecom in the region by taking networks deep into these countries and providing affordable services that touch the common man. We also promise our customers in Africa a superior brand experience and a portfolio of innovative products & services.

We would like to welcome over 6500 talented and highly qualified professionals to the Bharti family and look forward to working with them to take these operations from strength to strength. We would like to thank the Zain team for their professionalism, which enabled us to close this transaction in a record time.”

Mr. Asaad Al-Banwan, Chairman, Zain, said “We wholeheartedly wish Bharti Airtel great success in continuing the development of telecommunications across the African continent, and we are confident that the people of Africa will welcome such a committed and reputable telecom powerhouse.”

Bharti’s acquisition of Zain’s African mobile services operations covers 15 countries with a total customer base of over 42 million. The total population base covered is over 450 million with telecom penetration of approximately 32%. The countries in which Bharti has acquired the operations are – Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. Zain is the market leader in 10 of the 15 countries and second in 4 countries.

Source

It looks like we will soon be saying “Hello” to Airtel Nigeria. Sigh. Looks too like the 4th Revision of my Guide to Mobile Internet in Nigeria won’t be too long coming as well.

The 3rd revision of my popular ebook, Guide to Mobile Internet in Nigeria (first published in June 2009), is now available for download. This time, a CDMA network, Starcomms makes a debut in the guide, plus updates on Etisalat and other minor revisions.

The size of the ebook has also been reduced. Now, its a smaller 1.25mb in size, compared to 14.9mb for the 2nd Revision. My colleagues and I are convinced that the size of the book limited downloads somewhat.

The previous revision was downloaded 972 times. In all, my Guide to Mobile Internet in Nigeria has recorded over 3, 000 downloads since June 2009 till today, June 8, 2010.

Download your free copy

India’s largest telco Bharti Airtel yesterday said it has tied up $8.3 billion from a clutch of foreign banks and State Bank of India (SBI) to fund the acquisition of Zain telecom’s African assets, for which both the companies are in exclusive talks till March 25.

“Bharti Airtel is pleased to announce that the entire financing requirement of $8.3 billion for the proposed acquisition of Zain’s African unit (Zain Africa BV) has been successfully tied up,” the company said in a statement. “Financing was oversubscribed, with major international banks committing to underwrite the total amount,” the statement added.

If Airtel is acquiring Zain Africa’s assets, then we can expect that Zain Nigeria will be undergoing another name change sooon. Sounds familiar; right?

Read the full news item

The news of the proposed sale of Zain has been around for a while. However, the CEO of Zain’s African operations claims that Zain Africa is not for sale.

Sounds odd. Zain Africa is not an autonomous unit apart from the global Zain operations. If Zain global is selling, surely wouldn’t this affect Zain Africa? But the CEO seems to know this. Hear him:

Zain Africa isn’t for sale. We are focused on our objective of becoming a top-10 mobile player globally by 2011. There is absolutely no lack of focus in Africa. There is always great appetite for expansion…

Whether shareholders decide to sell is entirely up to them. Shareholder matters are outside the scope of my responsibility.

Ahem. Looks like Zain Africa is up for sale. The last time we checked, that’s what the shareholders said.

Sources: The Punch newspaper; All Africa

I am doing this post from Accra, the capital city of Ghana. One of the uncomfortable things about travelling out of one’s native country is the prospect of being unreachable by your loved ones while on the move.

This used to be the case. Now, with voice and data roaming on mobile networks, it is fast becoming a thing of the past.

When my family and I left Nigeria on friday, thanks to seamless roaming on both MTN and Zain networks, we have stayed in touch on our regular GSM lines where each of those networks have coverage. For MTN, we had a signal most of the time and encountered black spots every now and then. This was because MTN has networks active in Benin, and Ghana.

On MTN, I received calls and SMS for free, and made calls at the same rate as subscribers on the host network pay. Unfortunately, data roaming did not work, so I was offline some time after we entered Benin till our arrival and settling down at Accra.

Zain data roaming worked once we got to Ghana, as there were no Zain networks in benin and Togo. My wife received calls for free as well and made calls to loved ones back home. As for data roaming on Zain, while there is GPRS/EDGE/3G/3.5G coverage, her Zain Nigeria line won’t even indicate the presence of that.

PS: The Zain Nigeria website says that data roaming is available in Ghana on “Tigo (Millicom)”. Why not on Zain Ghana?

I purchased a Zain Ghana SIM for mobile internet use. It came pre-activated for internet. All I had to do was load airtime, enter the settings manually, subscribe to a plan, and I was good to go. EDGE coverage is strong at our location, and I am posting this on Zain Ghana internet.

Our holiday spot, Atlantic Resort, has a Wi-fi hotspot. I will be subscribing as soon as I can get my lazy butts off the bed and out of the chalet.

This is Yomi Adegboye reporting live from Ghana for MobilityNigeria.com.

Zain Nigeria has been making a lot of noise about its new “Joli” packages in the last few days. Looking at the Joli tariffs, it is clear that voice subscribers get a better deal by migrating from the old packages to the new.

However, if you are currently subscribed to an internet bundle plan, you may want to stay away from those Joli migration codes for now. Migrating to Joli de-activates/cancels any existing internet bundle plans you may be subscribed to. Without notice. Yes; whatever you paid for the bundle package is gone. But that’s not all.

Because the bundle is now cancelled, if you have any available airtime, your line keeps connecting, eating up your airtime without your being aware of it.

Lastly, internet bundles cannot be activated on the Jolli platform. Joli subscribers can only enjoy pay-as-you-go internet at 15 kobo per kb. Well, at least till Zain sort out how to get it done.

Bad. Very bad.

A note of caution if you do choose to migrate to the Joli package: While it may be tempting to switch in order to enjoy lower call rates, also note that there is currently no way to switch back, if you are not satisfied. The migration is currently on a no-return basis.

Zain now offers a monthly unlimited internet access plan for offices and homes. Called Zain Premium Plan, there is no monthly data cap on this service, similar to what CDMA networks like Starcomms offer. Finally, a GSM network steps up to the “unlimited” plate.

The package costs N15, 000 per month. all you have to do is load N15, 000 worth of airtime, and then dial *141*712*5# to activate the plan. Once activated, the subscriber has one month access to unlimited internet access.

Speed and performance depends on location, as Zain 3G is very limited at present. But outside of 3G coverage, subscribers will be able to browse via EDGE (180-240 kbps theoretical maximum speed), or GPRS (70 kbps theoretical maximum speed).

This is a good move by Zain. Now, if experience is anything to go by, we should expect the others to photocopy and join the unlimited bundle bandwagon. Which is not a bad thing at all. The consumer wins!

Ahem! In the meantime, we hope that the guys at Zain are working at providing wider 3G coverage. This is 2009, guys, and crawly GPRS is killing… slowly…

BusinessDay reports that French telecoms operator, Vivendi, has won the bid for African network, Zain.

Another re-branding nightmare for Zain Nigeria?

History: Econet Wireless to Vodacom to Vmobile to Celtel to Zain
Future: Vivendi (?)

If this deal goes through, shall we hope that Vivendi won’t opt to sell out again in another two years?

One thing must be said though, it has been a surprise – and a pleasant one too – how the 0802/0808 network has managed to provide relatively stable services (at least with voice) inspite of the constant corporate skin changes.

Related Article: Another Re-Branding Exercise Looming at 0802/0808?

I have been working behind the scenes on a concise guide to mobile internet in Nigeria. Nigeria is one of the fastest growing mobile voice and internet countries in the world. This free ebook provides concise but useful information about the available GSM-based mobile internet services in the country.

• 2nd Revision: Mar. 2010
• 1st Revision: Feb. 2010

A revised version is now available for download

I have held off writing on these issues for a while now but I can’t
just take it anymore. I am thoroughly disappointed (not for the first
time) with MTN and it is a pity that there are no better options out
there. As such, I am stuck with them for now.

My problem with MTN’s voice servicce has more to do with billing than the quality of calls. A few weeks ago, I noticed that any airtime that was left on my line was being deducted sometime after 10pm on a daily basis. As I do not load much credit on the line, I overlooked it initially. But things came to a head when on a particular day I had loaded N750 and barely used N150, the N600 left on my line disappeared shortly after 10pm. I only discovered this when I wanted to make a call.

I was annoyed, to say the least. As I could not get through to Customer Care by voice, I got their (Customer Care) email address from their website and fired off an email. A few days later, I receiveed a reply that said there was nothing wrong with my line and that the credit had not been wrongly deducted.

At this same time, I noticed that while browsing pay-as-you-go my line was not being billed immediately.

For example, if I went online and downloaded 100kb at 11am, my airtime would remain the same, giving the false impression that I was browsing free. Much later in the day, I was eventually billed for the internet access. This prevented me from doing a proper reconciliation of data and voice costs.

Funny enough, a day after they sent me the mail, the whole billing issue stopped. But a week later, it started again. Since then, I have learnt to load the amount of airtime that I need/can use before 10pm. Anytime after that, there is the risk of my account balance reading N0.00.

The data issues are the same recurring ones and it is quite annoying
that they continue unabated. I am currently subscribed to the Night
plan (10pm – 5am) with a 3GB cap but I have barely used 1GB with
barely a week left before it expires. When the network is up, it is
superb most of the time but the sporadic nature of the downtimes are
quite annoying. Moreso it appears that it seems to happen when I have some urgent work to do or deadline to meet.

I believe the introduction of a dedicated data customer care number/email would help in bringing these issues to their notice and aid the quick resolution. I would understand downtimes of a couple of hours but when it runs into 8-10 hours as happened a couple of days ago, that’s unacceptable.

Sadly enough, I dont have a back up plan at the moment. Not that there are any appealing options anyway.

1. Etisalat EDGE is way too expensive
2. Zain 3G is non-existent
3. Glo is trouble laden, and
4. My experience with Starcomms is a story for another day

For now, I am not adventurous enough to spring for any other ISP at this point in time.

I am fed up – and that is putting it mildly.

Is anyone out there having the same problems?

Months ago, Zain announced that its 3G service was live, and some of us were quite expectant.

However, the days, weeks, and months have flown by and Zain 3G is yet to be experienced by the majority of her subscribers who live and work in the very areas that Zain claims 3G coverage.

From Victoria Island to Yaba to Ogba, subscribers keep staring at their phone displays in the hope of seeing the 3G notification icon pop up, but all to no avail.

Dayo and I drove all the way to VI and back yesterday, and not once did we get a Zain 3G signal.

Not once have I seen the 3G icon on any of the 3G phones that I have installed a Zain SIM on. As a matter of fact, even EDGE coverage on the Zain network is scanty – not as bad as 3G, but certainly not available widespread either. At the eendd of the day, the average subscriber in Lagos is left with nothing but GPRS.

Exactly where does Zain have active 3G coverage? Have you used Zain 3G or do you know someone who has?

From: “Yomi Adegboye”
To: care@etisalat.com.ng
Subject: Bridging The Digital Divide
Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2009 12:25:30 +0100

Dear Sirs,

This mail is to bring to your attention the tremendous opportunity available to Etisalat Nigeria in the area of mobile internet services in the country.

At the moment, there is a gaping vacuum in the mobile internet terrain in the country, especially with the older network operators providing less than satisfactory data services.

We are of the informed opinion that this is an opportunity for Etisalat to step up to the plate with bundle internet packages similar to those being offered currently by MTN, Zain and Glomobile.

If well packaged, even if at slightly higher tariffs, bundle data plans from Etisalat will instantly offer an alternative and succour to millions of subscribers stranded on the often less than satisfactory data services on ground at the moment.

Thanking you for your time, and looking forward to Etisalat stepping to the plate with bundle data plans.

Yours faithfully,

Yomi Adegboye
Chairman/CEO
Alireta Nigeria Limited
http://www.alireta.com
——————————–

The above was the mail I sent to the Etisalat Nigeria careline earlier today. The mail was returned undelivered for the following stated reason:

care@etisalat.com.ng
SMTP error from remote mail server after end of data:
host mail.etisalat.com.ng [80.248.2.141]: 550 5.7.1 Message rejected due to content restrictions

Rather odd. There was nothing else in the mail beside text I will re-send it later and hope that it goes through this time.

The truth, however, is that Etisalat is sitting on a goldmine, but seems not to be taking up the challenge. The voice market is largely, relatively saturated. But the mobile internet market? It is so under-tapped that this is the very area that Etisalat can take advantage of to spread its tentacles.

Related Reading:
1. Whither Mobile Internet, Etisalat?
2. Etisalat’s Uncompetitive Mobile Internet Tariff
3. EDGE on Etisalat: First Impressions