Airtel Nigeria stands by its new name
Airtel Nigeria has defended its decision to change the name Zain Nigeria.
According to Chairman and Managing Director, Sunil Bharti Mittal, the new brand identity gives the company the opportunity to present a single, powerful and unified face to customers, stakeholders and partners around the world.
He added that the new brand identity reinforces Airtel’s promise to deliver innovative services and a superior brand experience to their 200 million customers across Asia and Africa. Now the brand is modern, vibrant and friendly.
Apart from Nigeria, Airtel has operations in Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo, Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
Western Union, MTN to launch Cross-Border Mobile Money Transfer Service (South Africa)
MTN and Western Union has announced a deal to introduce Cross-Border Mobile Money Transfer service in 21 countries.
The service will allow MTN subscribers to send and receive Western Union Money Transfer transactions using their MTN Mobile Money accounts. Additionally, Mobile Money users in certain countries will be able to transfer transactions directly from their mobile phones for payout at one of Western Union’s 386,000 Agent locations in 200 countries and territories around the world.
The service will first be introduced in Uganda, where MTN’s Mobile Money service already holds over 1 million registered users. According to the World Bank, Uganda receives nearly US$500 million in remittances every year, making up 3% of the country’s GDP.
The mobile money will not just help the users in transferring money but will also help them to use the funds to pay bills, top-up airtime, send money domestically and internationally, or withdraw cash at Mobile Money Agents or any participating ATM.
According to Khalid Fellahi, Western Union’s Head of Mobile Transaction Services, the Western Union Mobile Money Transfer service is a key part of the company’s multi-channel strategy to offer consumers numerous ways to send and receive money. This alliance with MTN – one of the world’s most successful mobile operators – will introduce cross-border remittances to an entirely new segment of customers by allowing them to send and receive money using just their mobile phones.
MTN’s Mobile Money service is currently available in Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda, with pilots underway in several other markets.
MTN reduces international roaming rates (South Africa)
MTN South Africa has announced that it will reduce the retail rates for international roaming on both voice and data with effect from today.
According to Serame Taukobong, Chief Marketing Officer at MTN SA, MTN Roaming is now an even more affordable and convenient means for MTN Pay-As-You-Go, Contract and Top-Up customers to always stay connected when travelling abroad.
MTN had introduced Seamless Roaming in March this year to provide MTN Pay-As-You-Go and Top-Up customers with the ability to load airtime using foreign airtime vouchers in Southern and Eastern Africa regions where MTN operates.
Serame Taukobong added that MTN has now decided to further reduce roaming rates to encourage customers to stay connected on the MTN network while travelling in Southern and Eastern Africa regions. This means that all MTN Pay-As-You-Go, Top-Up and contract customers can now travel with their MTN cell phones to MTN Uganda, MTN Zambia, MTN Swaziland, MTN Rwandacel and Mascom Botswana, and enjoy one of the most affordable roaming call and internet rates.
The new roaming rates have been revised substantially and will be charged as: International calls or calls to home (South Africa) at R5.00 per minute, Local calls at R3.00 per minute, Receiving calls at R4.00 per minute, Sending SMSs at R1.50 per SMS and Data at 25c per 25KB
According to Taukobong, with the new voice and data rates, it is intention to encourage company’s loyal customers to make the most of the MTN network, no matter where they roam in Southern and Eastern Africa. The company is also encouraging customers to ensure they comply with RICA requirements by simply taking their ID and proof of residence to their nearest MTN store, thereby ensuring they experience uninterrupted service during their travels.
‘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.
MTN-Orascom will be over twice the size of Airtel & Orange Africa.
MTN-Orascom’s joint subscriber base will surpass the 100 million mark if the deal goes through. This would mean that it will be over twice the size of Airtel Africa & Orange. MTN will get a boost of over 20 million subs from the Orascom deal.
That said, if a deal were to happen, here’s a quick analysis of whats for sale in the Orascom portfolio and why 2 assets are particularly interesting:
1. Djezzy in Algeria: Top line of $1.86 billion with a 46% market share (14.6 million subs) and a 57% EBITDA margin! This is the jewel in the crown. However, there is a downside here as well for some key reasons. Orascom’s relationship with the government and the regulator is strained and Q4 2009 results suffered on account of backdated taxes and penalties. Djezzy has actually seen market share decline by 5 percent and ARPU declined by 16% in 2009. Mobile penetration is in excess of 90% and Q-tel owned Njedma has proven to be an aggressive competitor. Numbers are big and exciting but the hay-days might just be getting over pretty soon though.
2. Tunisiana in Tunisia: Orascom owns half of Tunisiana alongside it’s arch rival in Algeria, Q-Tel (Wataniya) which owns the remaining 50 percent. With 53 percent market share (5.2 million subs) and 54% EBITDA margin this is another rock and roll story. However, with Orange launching and that too with an exclusive 3G license, pressures will build up sooner rather than later.
3. CellOne Namibia, Telecel Zimbabwe, Telecel Central African Republic & U-com Burundi together have 1.8 million subscribers and contribute only $81 million to the top line.
If the deal were to go through then Djezzy will be the third largest operation in the MTN-Orascom combine, after Nigeria and South Africa.
Here’s a snapshot of what the MTN-Orascom would look like (Figures are sourced from Wireless Intelligence)
MTN subscribers base in Africa increases in Q1
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: 123.58 million Subscribers have been recorded by MTN Group, increasing by 7% at March 31, 2010. 22% of the Group’s total subscriber base has been contributed by South and East Africa (SEA) region while 46% and 32% has been contributed by West and Central Africa (WECA) and Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
South Africa contributed 60% of the region’s total, increasing 2.2% to 16.42 million and the SEA region increased its subscriber base by 4% for the quarter. Despite aggressive competition, Uganda increased its subscriber base by 8% to 5.615 million. The network quality and the continued success of the distribution framework allowed Nigeria for a competitive advantage increasing its subscriber base by 8% to 33.301 million.
Ghana increased its subscriber base by 5%, Cameroon by 2% and Cote d’Ivoire by 8%. The MENA region recorded an 8% increase in subscribers and Iran 9%.
France Telecom revenue falls 2% in Q1
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: 2.0 percent drop in the first-quarter revenues has been reported by France Telecom to reach EUR 10.959 billion. The EBITDA also came down to EUR 3.764 billion falling 4.8 percent from a year earlier. UK operations are not included in the figures as after its merger with T-Mobile UK, it has been reported to be discontinued.
In France, revenues were down 2.4 percent to EUR 5.77 billion and in Spain it fell 3.3 percent to EUR 923 million. Ivory Coast, Kenya, Senegal and Uganda accounted for 7 percent revenue growth in the Africa and the Middle East region.
Due to regulatory effects and new taxes in France, EBITDA margin fell to 34.3 percent from 35.4 percent a year earlier on a comparable basis. Following high spending in Q4 and bad weather in Q1, capital expenditure was down 21 percent from a year ago to EUR 874 million.
Bharti-Zain deal gets Uganda support
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Uganda has expressed its support for Bharti- Zain deal if Bharti Airtel follows domestic laws for the transaction. The announcement was made by East African nation’s regulatory authority which also opined that transfer of ownership in the telecommunication sector in Uganda is not new and even the current owners of Zain bought from another company.
On March 31, Bharti and Zain inked a deal as per which the former will buy Zain’s assets 15 African countries, including a unit in Uganda with an aim to expand its market overseas.
Earlier, it was reported that Congo Republic’s telecommunications ministry might block the sale of Zain’s unit in the country because the company failed to provide advance notification.
Uganda Telecom sued by MTN for contract breach
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A case has been filed against Uganda Telecommunications Ltd (UTL) by MTN Uganda in the Kampala High Court’s Commercial Division for unpaid interconnection fees, seeking UGS7.2 billion (USD3.55 million).
UTL has been accused of breach of contract by MTN which claimed that February 2001 its management entered into an agreement with UTL to interconnect their respective networks, as required by their respective telecoms licences awarded by the Uganda Communications Commission.
According to MTN, in accordance with the interconnection charges that were detailed in the agreement its management issued invoices to UTL, but that the state-owned telco failed to pay them. MTN has asked for a court order compelling UTL to pay the owes plus interest, damages and costs.
MWC2010: Zain wins ‘Mobile Money for the Unbanked Service’ award
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The inaugural GSMA’s 2010 ‘Mobile Money for the Unbanked Service’ award at the Mobile World Congress has been won by Zain, a leading mobile network operator in the Middle East and Africa. The Global Mobile Awards in this category has been given for Zain’s mobile commerce service called ‘Zap’.
To recognize innovative mobile banking around the world, the Mobile Money for the Unbanked Service has been established, pioneering the roll out of low-cost financial services to millions of people, in countries where traditional financial services are either not within easy reach or unavailable.
Launched exactly one year ago on February 16, 2009, Zap, is the biggest Mobile Commerce service in the world accessible to approximately 200 million potential customers in Kenya, Malawi, Niger, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Ghana. It provides the most comprehensive and accessible package of m-commerce features currently available anywhere in the world.
