Airtel plan to invest in Nigerian market

Lagos, Jul 8: Bharti Airtel plans to invest $600 million in Nigeria"s mobile market.

Bharti will also invest in rural telephony and introduce a corporate social responsibility programme that includes setting up of schools that would offer free quality education to underprivileged children in rural communities.

On Mar 2010 Bharti Airtel completed the take over of the Kuwait based Zain Telecom"s African unit for around $10.7 billion.

"We are very delighted to be in Nigeria and at the outset like to express our deep gratitude and than the government of Nigeria for their overwhelming support. We want to be a partner in Nigeria"s growth and will work with the government to take the telecom network deep into all corners of the country to touch the common man," said Manoj Kohli, the CEO international and joint managing director Bharti Airtel.

"Mobile phone customers in Nigeria use only 50 minutes of airtime a month whereas 450 minutes is obtainable in India and promised to make an improvement. If a company hopes to grow, they have to be in Africa and the jewel of Africa is Nigeria," he added.

"In Nigeria we will continue to build on the momentum. We will introduce innovative products and services for our customers in Nigeria," said Zain"s Nigeria CEO Rajan Swaroop.

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