Zain Nigeria, the mobile firm which started out as Econet Wireless Nigeria in 2001 and has since changed its name four times, will be rebranded a fifth time on October 1 as Bharti Airtel Nigeria. India’s Bharti Airtel, which purchased Zain’s African assets last month for US$10.7 billion, has also committed US$600 investment in the Nigerian operator over the next three years.
“Fifty per cent of that amount would come up in the first year. We have looked that the Nigerian telecom industry and have discovered three issues: quality of service, freedom to make calls and affordability of service which we would work on to provide quality service to consumers," commented Bharti Airtel’s Africa group CEO, Manoj Kohli.
Econet Wireless Nigeria was renamed Vodacom Nigeria in 2004 and later the same year to V-Mobile Nigeria. In 2006 Celtel Nigeria took over before it was rebranded Zain Nigeria in 2008. Kohli said the launch of the operator’s new brand name later this year would coincide with the 50th anniversary of independence for Nigeria.
Bharti Airtel is India’s largest mobile service provider with 125 million subscribers across the country. It is also the fifth largest telecoms company in the world. The group’s investment in Africa gives the firm a foothold in Burkina Faso, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
2 comments ↓
To me Econet/VodaFone/V-mobile/Celtel/Zain has been one of the best players, and that the step taken will further make the network the most affordable and fastest ever in Nigeria. I have the feeling Bharti Airtel will be the cheapest and fastest ever. I can’t wait for the best experience.
If a change in ownership will boost services to the steaming Nigerian market, then I am in total support of it.
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