Airtel may exit from Sri lanka by selling telecom business to Etisalat

Telecom service provider Bharti Airtel is likely to exit from Sri Lankan mobile market by selling its business to Etisalat.

Hindu Business Line reported that negotiations between Bharti Airtel and Etisalat have advanced to final stages.

An announcement from Airtel is expected before the return of Manoj Kohli, managing director and chief executive officer (International) of the company, in January to India. Kohli is also in-charge of the company’s operations in Africa, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Bharti Airtel, which launched its Sri Lanka operations in 2009, has less than two million users in the country. Airtel has invested over $300 million to roll out services in Sri Lanka but continues to make losses.

In Sri Lanka, Airtel operates across 25 administrative districts with distribution network of over 41,400 retailers. Airtel, which did not bid for 4G spectrum, offers 3.5G services which are present across major towns in Sri Lanka.

source: www.telecomlead.com

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.

source: www.biztechafrica.com