Airtel, a leading telecom service provider, scooped the African Operator of the Year accolade at the CommsMEA Awards 2013.The award recognises excellence in the telecom sector across Africa and the Middle East, according to organisers.Airtel beat MTN Group, Vodacom and Nedjma to the award at the eighth edition of the annual event organised by CommsMEA at Jumeirah Emirates Towers in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The event attracted over 300 guests, including telecommunications’ chief executives, ministers, regulators and vendors."We are humbled by this recognition and the trust the international industry panel, consumers and other stakeholders have placed on Airtel since our entry into the African market in 2010,” said Manoj Kohli, the Bharti Airtel international chief executive officer. "Over the past three years, we have served more communities in the countries we operate in and, hopefully, changed their lives through, not only the voice, but also the data and mobile commerce services that we provide. "The latter are increasingly becoming essential in Africa.” Marcellin Paluku, the Airtel Rwanda country director, applauded the international community for recognising the telecom firm’s increased investment and innovation across all the African markets in "an effort to bring services closer to our customers”. A recent survey conducted by the African Business magazine indicated that despite only a three-year presence in Africa, Airtel is one of Africa’s top 10 most admired global brands.Airtel has the largest 3G and mobile commerce footprint in Rwanda and sub-Saharan Africa, providing 3G services in 14 African countries.With Airtel Money services in 17 countries across the continent, the firm’s mobile commerce platform is positioned to become Africa’s widest financial services provider, serving more diverse communities than any other financial institution in Africa.Currently leveraging a network of over 100,000 agent locations, Airtel Money facilitates access to financial services for the unbanked population.Bharti Airtel had over 277 million customers across its operations at the end of September 2013.