Bharti Airtel regional headquarters to be in Kenya

By Morris Aron

It is now official. The African headquarters of the Indian telephony giant, Bharti Airtel, will be housed in Nairobi. And it is here that the management of the firm will oversee the company’s operations, spanning across 16 countries in the continent.

This follows revelations that the Government of Kenya has agreed to give a land concession to the mobile company in a location formerly used by the defunct Kenya Postal Telecommunication Corporation, at the Westlands office node.

"We have identified a parcel of land in Westlands to house Bharti Airtel Africa headquarters as per their request earlier," said Prime Minister Raila Odinga during the company’s re-branding ceremony on Monday night.

"The paper work is being finalised and we will be making official communication to that extent soon."

Raila lauded the decision by Bharti to house its African operations in the country, saying the move will boost confidence in the country’s economic potential and political stability.

The concessions on land and number portability were among the main outcomes of a meeting between the President Mwai Kibaki, and Bharti Airtel officials in July after which Bharti, formerly Zain, but now operating under the brand name of Airtel, said it would invest $150 million (Sh12 billion) in Kenya.

The monies will go towards the construction of a contact call centre to cater for its English speaking operations, and making Nairobi the base of its African operations that includes services to a number of French-speaking nations, among other investment areas.

The announcement now leaves number portability as the only outstanding issue Bharti wanted addressed to level the playing field in the mobile telephone sector in the country.

Mobile Number Portability (MNP) is a technology that enables mobile subscribers to switch from one operator to another without having to get a new cell phone line. It also enables consumers to use of alternative networks in an area where one provider has no footprint or is experiencing a network problem.

Number portability

Bharti sees number portability as one of its strategic weapons for market penetration.

"We want to be to connect all the villages in Africa to the mobile network," said Naushad Merali, the chairman of Bharti Airtel Kenya.

Its predecessors —Kencell, Celtel, Zain — found it difficult to grow their market share despite fierce price wars, which have seen tariffs in the voice and data segments drop by more than 100 per cent in the past four years.

Analysts also say the attachment many subscribers have to their user numbers has prevented millions from changing service providers, despite the marked differences in pricing and quality of service offered by the different players.

Market regulator, Communication Commissions of Kenya, has in the past said number portability will enhance competition and consumer convenience in the telecommunication sector by enabling consumers retain their user numbers whenever they decide to change service providers.

The company at the moment controls 10.6 per cent of the market, second to Safaricom, which controls 78 per cent, while the two new entrants Telkom’s Kenya Orange and Essar’s Yu have 5.6 per cent and 5.4 per