Airtel to invest US$100m in new Rwanda operation

Airtel has pledged to invest US$100 million in its newly awarded GSM and 3G license in Rwanda in the next three years.
Airtel, the African subsidiary of India’s Bharti, which it acquired in 2010 from the Zain group for $10.7 billion, was yesterday (Thursday) awarded the $30 million license in the Rwandan capital, Kigali on the sidelines of a Broadband Commission for Development conference that was attended by the World’s richest person, Carlos Slim.
Bharti Chairman, Sunil Bharti Mittal and the Rwanda President Paul Kagame made the announcement.
The Rwandan Government did not advertise or competitively appraise bidders for the license but instead appointed a technical team, which conducted the deal that ended up identifying Airtel.
Airtel before it became Zain has in the past missed out on an opportunity to set up shop in Rwanda. When Rwanda called for a third mobile license in 2008, then Zain put in a bid but was among other players that were beaten by Millicom International, which today is one of two mobile operators in the small East African nation, under the Tigo brand.
Airtel will now join MTN and Tigo, which have dominated the market since April this year when Rwandatel, a local telecom firm lost its mobile license after it emerged that it had failed to comply with license obligations.
Airtel, which already has a presence in Rwanda’s neighbours Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo is expected to heat up competition in the small country of 11 million people.
This is expected to lower the already falling call rates in a country where slightly over half of its population is poor and solely depends on subsistence agriculture.
Statistics from Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency (RURA), the telecommunications industry regulator indicate that mobile users have now reached 3,910,386 – something that has pushed mobile penetration to 38.4 percent.
MTN Rwanda leads the market with 2,824,874 users followed by Tigo with 1,300,159 customers as of July, according the telecom regulator.
With this license, Airtel’s African footprint will expand to 17 operations across the continent.
Airtel already has its presence in 16 countries of Africa, which include Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.