04 WEDNESDAY 14th NOVEMBER 2012


AFRICACOM DAILY 2012 I http://africa.comworldseries.com/


Airtel moving on up


INDIA-headquartered carrier Bharti Airtel, moved up one notch on the global scoreboard this month to become the fourth largest mobile operator in the world in terms of subscribers following strong growth in Africa and Asia. According to statistics released


this month, at the end of the quarter ended June 30, Bharti Airtel had over 250 million mobile subscribers across its operations, representing 13 per cent year on year growth. Bharti Airtel had become the fifth largest mobile operator in the world following its acquisi- tion of Zain group’s mobile operations across 15 African nations in June 2010. Speaking to the AfricaCom Show Daily last week, Andre Beyers, chief marketing officer for Africa at Airtel, said that when the com- pany bought Zain, it was already a business that was very good at managing operations across very different economies—some- thing that was at the heart of the operator’s approach. Ahead of the AfricaCom


show in Cape Town this week, Beyers gave the Show Daily some insight into the key topics that will likely be on the agenda this week. Banking: “Mobile finance is


still top of agenda along with others. The low penetration of financial services in the region and the ability of banks to create a profitable model is very dif- ficult when you take it beyond bricks and mortar. But our m-finance product has very good penetration. You need to get the ecosystem right, but there is a massive opportunity in a hugely underbanked environment. Many users will see the benefits in terms of convenience. We have invested ahead of demand and launched m-finance in 14 coun- tries already.” Data: “There is massive


penetration of social media in a number of countries and internet access is becoming a right for everyone, not a privi- lege for some. We are breaching the digital divide and internet access through the cellphone is the key factor.


“We’ve launched 11 3G net-


works in the last year and there is a known price for data in the various markets. Traditionally data usage has been stifled by high data pricing, which is a product of insufficient coverage or capacity. But we need to get to a level where data is an affordable daily commodity. People should feel comfortable about using it whether it’s a time-based or us- age-based model. The demand is there and the market is maturing very rapidly from pay-as-you-go tariffs to a variety of different mechanisms. “Of course, interaction with


OTT players in absolutely neces- sary and there is evidence of that success in 0.facebook and Google SMS and several others. This is the reality and Facebook is the “app of the century” so being re- sistant is not the right way to go. The walled gardens have come down and we need to invest in creating some of our own plat- forms as well with content such as football and music.” Devices: “We have to make sure there is a good penetration


of data devices on the net- work. We are seeing entry level 3G phones, but smartphones are helpful due to the kind of revenues that we are seeing flow through them when compared to low level handsets or tablets. Moreover, smartphones are increasingly coming down to a more accessible level, we’re even seeing $50 devices.” Brand: “A locally owned


brand is very important to be acknowledged for the long run. As competition steps up, this is one of the instruments you have to get right. We’re focusing a lot on building platforms for football, music and other con- tent as well as developing Airtel Business for more sophisticated


Operator China Mobile Vodafone Group


America Movil Group Bharti Airtel


Telefonica Group


enterprise offerings. The en- terprise focus is quite a recent development as the sector is not as full fledged as in other markets, but cloud, leased line and VSAT are all being offered in the African region and this is the next big competitive area.” Smart segmentation:


“Everybody is looking at how we can increase the accuracy with how a market breaks out. The markets in this region are becoming more sophisticated and that needs to be reflected in terms of getting insights out of it. Gaining an advantage in a market that will mature in the next few years necessitates this kind of analysis so you can build offerings accordingly.”


Connections (millions)*


683.08 386.88 251.83 250.04 243.51


YoY Growth connections


11 % 5 % 7 %


13 % 7 %


Source: Wirelessintelligence.com


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