INTERVIEW

Airtel targets local talent Country Manager Qn: Who is Bharti Airtel?Bharti Airtel Ltd is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa. The company offers mobile voice and data services, fixed line, high speed broadband, IPTV, DTH, turnkey telecom solutions for enterprises and national as well as international long distance services to carriers. Bharti Airtel has been ranked among the six best performing technology companies in the world by BusinessWeek and had over 233 million customers across its operations at the end of August 2011. It is the third largest wireless operator in the world and the fifth largest integrated telecom operator in the world.Airtel has operations in 16 countries across Africa, which were acquired by Airtel International from Zain in June 2010. They include Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Qn: Why did you choose to invest in Rwanda? Why this market?Rwanda is amongst the fastest growing telecom markets in Africa. According to the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda, the mobile penetration in the country was 38.4 per cent as of July 2011. According to a Deloitte report commissioned by the mobile communications industry association – the GSMA - only 40 out of every 100 people in Africa have a mobile phone, and a 10 per cent rise in mobile penetration could increase gross domestic product by 1.2 per cent. Demand is growing at an average rate of 25 percent annually, and analysts forecast that sub-Saharan Africa will increase its mobile penetration to 65 percent by 2013 with most of the growth coming from rural areas. Qn: Which technology do you intend to roll-out?The license awarded by the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency is to operate 2G and 3G GSM mobile services in Rwanda. The next level of mobile growth in Africa is likely to originate from semi-urban and rural areas. Coupled with this, our long term commitment is to offer world class services and deeper network coverage to include the rural population. MNOs (Mobile Network Operators) would need to make very large investments to set up the necessary infrastructure and returns could be low. Sharing infrastructure among two or more MNOs is one of the best ways to solve the problem. We calculate that, excluding tower sharing, the African market as a whole will require an additional 55,000 towers over the next three years to take SIM penetration to 70 per cent. This will require an estimated capex of US$8.9 billion. Tower sharing, in our view, offers MNOs an opportunity to reduce capex and improve cash flows. We expect tower sharing, and infrastructure sharing in general, to become a strong value proposition for the telecoms sector in Rwanda. Qn: Rwanda has 4.2m subscribers in the market with the two players. With these figures, what is your impression of the Rwandan market?Rwanda is definitely a key telecom market with immense growth potential and will also strengthen Airtel’s footprint within the East African region. Creating seamless connectivity across networks through the lowering of interconnect costs in Rwanda will also help subscribers communicate with each other at more affordable rates, regardless of which network they choose to be with. This will stimulate the overall growth of the telecommunications industry and economy.Qn: Rwanda’s fixed line telephone subscription is really low as compared to other telecoms. Do you have any plans to invest in this product?The license awarded by the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency is to operate 2G and 3G GSM mobile services in Rwanda. We firmly believe that mobile broadband is a major catalyst for economic growth and development. QN: What’s going to be Airtel’s approach on the Rwandan market?Since its foray into Africa, Bharti Airtel has made significant strides with the successful launch of the Airtel brand, bringing its eco-system of global partnerships for IT, network and customer care and introduction of relevant services and innovative products. Going forward, the company plans to leverage big opportunities in 3G voice, high speed wireless broadband and in the medium term, work towards addressing the need for mobile commerce. In many emerging regions, including Africa, the availability of formal financial services is limited to certain geographic and income ranges, often leaving the majority of the population to rely on unreliable and costly informal channels for their financial transactions. Key market players, banks and mobile operators in particular, are keen to address this opportunity. Qn: Lastly, what’s your last word to Rwandans and what should they expect from Airtel? Not only will we have a positive impact on the economic development of countries in which we operate, but we try to help people achieve their goals through mobile communications that are innovative and useful. Access to mobile communications transforms how people communicate and how communities interact. Delivering on that opportunity through innovative and best in class mobile communication for everyone is our focus. The company’s operations will also generate direct and indirect employment opportunities in the country. Airtel is committed to develop local talent, skills and competencies in Rwanda. There are also African marketing synergies that Rwandans can look forward to from Airtel’s network. A key example is enabling Rwandans travelling on business across Airtel’s 17 African operations, the benefit of making local calls at local rates, receiving calls from the home network at lower rates without paying roaming charges and topping up airtime with the local recharge vouchers whilst travelling; this is dubbed “One Network”. Another example launched recently is an East African tariff, giving residents preferential cross border calling rates within the Airtel network to facilitate business growth and general communication within the region. Lastly, but my no means least, is Airtel’s focus on its Corporate Social Responsibility. Airtel supports Africa’s largest youth grassroots soccer development program in conjunction with a leading English football club. The initiative is called Airtel Rising Stars, where the youth get an opportunity to interact with each other across each country. Talented youth who showcase their skills get an opportunity to travel abroad and attend training camps to further enhance their talents. In addition to this soccer initiative, each country that Airtel operates in joins hands with the Ministries of Education, parents and Airtel staff by permanently adopting an underprivileged school and supporting the improvement of both the facility and the students on an ongoing basis. Ends