….Jonathan suggests survival strategy
…..Akunyili wants more Nigerians on top

Osuagwu & Laide Akinboade

After concluding a $10.7 billion transaction in June this year, which gave Indian Bharti Airtel the Zain Group’s Africa Unit, it was obvious that another name change, was on the way for the GSM operator that made the first call in Nigeria.

High Commissioner of India to Nigeria, Mr Mahesh Sachdev; Chairman, Airtel Nigeria, Dr Oba Otudeko; Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, owners of Airtel brand globally, Shri Sunil Bharti Mittal; Prof. Dora Akunyili, Minister for Information & Communications and Rajan Swaroop, Managing Director, AirTel Nigeria, during the launch of Airtel brand across Africa …in Abuja, at the weekend.

The name change, finally happened Weekend across the country and it is now called AirTel Nigeria. The name change brings to sixth the number of times the company would have to change identity since 2001 it started operations in Nigeria.

The company started as Econet Wireless Nigeria in 2001 and the first to be licensed by the Nigerian Communications Commission NCC. It later became Vodacom Nigeria in  2004, when alleged board room squabbles could not let the board members concentrate on advancing the network.

Later the same year, the forces that brought about Vodacom into the picture, also forced it out and the company later rebranded to V_Mobile Nigeria; But it was yet to settle with Vmobile when Mo Ibrahim’s MTC group in 2006, snapped it and once more turned it to Celtel Nigeria. It was from Celtel that the company in 2008 rebranded into Zain Nigeria.

These transformations followed traces of squabbles and board room conflicts which did not help its fast roll out plans and adequate expansion programmes.

Two years after, it is now Bharti Airtel Nigeria. The journey that brought the company to this name now, started when in middle of 2009, reports started filtering in that Zain wanted to sell its Africa operations.

The company was reported to have nursed the idea due to the heavy fund the sales would rake into its coffers as a company under some huge debts . No wonder Bharti paid a whopping $10.7 billion to tie the deal.

However, in a colourful celebration to herald the new name in Abuja Friday, the company’s board chairman in Nigeria, Mr Oba Otudeko said that even though this was the sixth time the company was changing its name, it was also six times stronger now, promising that with Airtel, the company has come to stay.

Group Chairman of the company, Mr Sunil Bharti Mittal also corroborated him, promising that the company would bring innovations that would not allow it dissolve into another company just like the company has done in the past.

This is also as the Managing Director, Airtel Nigeria , Rajan Swaroop, said 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.

Swaroop said that 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”.

Meanwhile President Goodluck Jonathan who was the special guest at the occasion tipped the company on what to do immediately to survive: “Rural telephony is still a relatively untapped market which promises huge return on investments.

The second area of desire is Airtel’s commitment to increase job opportunities for our people. It is my hope that the company would substantially increase its investment and expand its operations in the country so that it could assist to reduce the unemployment rate particularly  among our youths.”

Yet, the president was to provide another tip, urging the new company to tap into the potentials of investment in broadband in the country.

“The world is moving beyond provision of voice services alone. Broadband internet services are redefining the ways that people communicate, by creating a convergence in the provision of voice data and video and services. Nigeria too must take advantage of this technology.

Government will encourage investment in the growth of broadband internet access to complement the existing voice services. We want Nigerians, especially the youths, to be availed the opportunities that exists in the field of ICT, as there is a correlation between economic development and the availability of telecommunications infrastructure and services.”

President Jonathan was represented at the occasion by minister of Information and Communications, Prof. Dora Akunyili, who also challenged the new company to ensure that more Nigerians rose to its top management positions.

She also challenged Airtel to  use its size as the 5th largest telecom operator in the world to  engender a healthy competition that would bring down the unit cost of calls while improving on the quality of services in the country, assuring of a fair and transparent telecom regulatory environment.

Meanwhile an elated High Commissioner of India to Nigeria, Mr. Mehesh Sachdev said that the coming of Aitel to Nigeria would not only strengthen both the bilateral relationship between Nigeria and India but would also increase the two countries’ economic ties. He prided the Bharti Zain deal as the highest single investment in Africa apart from oil.