His Execellency,. Mr Mahesh Sachdev, High Commissioner of India to Nigeria; Dr Oba Otudeko, Chairman, Airtel Nigeria; Shri Sunil Bharti Mittal, Hon'ble Chairman of Bharti Enterprises owners of Airtel; and Prof. Dora Akunyili, Hon'ble Minister of Information & Communications, during the unveiling of Airtel brand across Africa ...in Abuja, Nigeria

Abuja, Nigeria – 19 November 2010:  Bharti Airtel, a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa, on Friday launched the Airtel brand and unveiled the new brand identity across its operations in 16 countries in Africa.  The new Airtel brand was unveiled in the presence of His Excellency Dr Goodluck Jonathan, the President of Nigeria, along with Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman and Group CEO, Bharti Enterprises in the capital, Abuja.

With the unveiling of the new brand identity Airtel becomes the master brand for all the group’s 19 operations in Asia and Africa covering over 200 million customers.  In Africa, Airtel replaces the Zain brand and comes with the promise of delivering high quality customer benefits through the power of global Airtel brand.  Going forward all future new products and services will follow the Airtel brand structure.  The ZAP mobile money service will be re-branded Airtel Money with immediate effect.

Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman and Managing Director, Bharti, said:  "Bharti began its African journey by promising to deliver world-class and affordable mobile services to customers and delighting them with innovative products.  I believe we are taking a major step towards delivering on this by introducing the heart of our business - the Airtel brand - across our operations in Africa.  Our African customers will now be able to enjoy the same best-in-class brand experience as our customers across India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

He further added:  “We remain committed to taking our network deeper into Africa, ensuring our services touch the common man and bridge the digital divide in the continent.  I am confident that over the coming years Airtel will win the hearts of customers across Africa and emerge as one of most admired brands of the continent.”

The new brand identity

The new Airtel brand comes with a promise to meet the emerging needs of customers with innovative, affordable and relevant solutions to empower consumers, giving them the freedom to do what they choose and provide them with the tools to meet life’s daily challenges.

The red primary colour of the logo reflects the warmth and vibrancy of the African continent.  It is the colour of life and of the African sun at dusk.  These qualities are reflected in Airtel’s brand personality of being brave and bold, sensitive and empathetic.  The new curved addition to the logo is a symbol which will help ensure instant recognition across our diverse international markets.

As part of the celebration of unveiling the new brand, Airtel also announced the launch of a new ultra low cost handset package which effectively provides a mobile phone free of charge to all new subscribers.  The package, launched in conjunction with Nokia, will be priced at approx NGN 3,500 (USD $23) and includes a brand new Nokia 1280 mobile phone, a free SIM card and the equivalent value in free Airtel talk time and SMS text messages.

Over the next couple of months Airtel will launch a number of world leading product innovations which focus on delivering relevant information for customers to enhance their quality of life and provide tools that will help them overcome their daily challenges.

In the past four months Airtel has already made tariff interventions in 11 of its 16 markets in Africa for the benefit of its customers.  It has also signed agreements to extend its networks to the most remote areas which are still not connected with the outside world. 

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