‘Airtel – Zain’ lost 6 million subscribers in Africa since Bharti’s acquisition

Zain has lost 6 million of its subscriber’s base from the day it tied knot with Bharti Airtel. Although according to Airtel’s spokesperson, the reporting in Kenya was different from that of other markets where a user is not accounted for if a person did not receive a single call for a month. However, most telcos label a user inactive only if the user has been inactive for anywhere between 3 to 6 months.

After announcing first-quarter results previously this month, Bharti Airtel disclosed Bharti Zain’s subscriber base at 36.3 million as touching over 42 million, the figure peddled at the time of the acquisition.

According to the spokesperson for Bharti Airtel, as good governance and to align the definition of customer reporting of Africa to India, the company reported 36.36 million customers. This represents revenue earning customers only. However, he did not specify if the company was seeing a churn in its African operations.

As part of the $10.7-billion deal, Bharti had agreed to acquire the operations of Zain in Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. The company is scheduled to unveil the Airtel brand in these countries by October.

Though the acquisition of Zain may have been responsible for the decline in profits, if Bharti doesn’t ensure customer satisfaction in the African nation, revenues and profits will continue to slide.