Indian mobile phone operator Bharti Airtel on July 09 announced a 150-million-dollar investment in Kenya following its take-over of the African subsidiary of Kuwaiti telecommunications firm Zain. "Africa is the last frontier for mobile telecom and mobile telecom will also catalyse social transformation of Africa and of rural Africa," said Manoj Kohli, Bharti Airtel's chief executive.
"We are bringing a fresh investment of 150 million dollars to expand our network, our IT infrastructure and our products portfolio," he told reporters. Bharti Airtel, the world's fifth largest mobile phone company, last month finalised the acquisition of Zain's African operation at a cost of 10.7 billion dollars.
Zain operated in 15 African countries. In Kenya it had a 10-percent share of the market dominated by Safaricom, a listed company partly owned by the Kenya government and Britain's Vodafon. Kohli said the Zain buy-out was "a fantastic launch pad for Africa with 15 countries."