Kigali, Rwanda. December 19, 2013. Airtel, a leading telecommunications service provider has been recognised as the African Operator of the Year at the CommsMEA Awards 2013.
The annual event organised by CommsMEA attracts executives including telecoms CEOs, ministers, regulators and vendors. They all gathered for the eighth edition of the event held at Jumeirah Emirates Towers in Dubai, where over 300 guests attended. The award recognises excellence within the telecoms sector across the Middle East and Africa.
Airtel emerged the best beating stiff competition on the shortlist like the MTN Group, Vodacom and Nedjma poising as the best telecom African Operator.
The winners were decided from a record number of nominations by a judging panel consisting of Akshay Lamba, chief architect and head of IT strategy at MTS; Milan Sallaba, managing director at Accenture Middle East; Erik Almqvist, partner and global head of operational consulting, Analysys Mason; Mark Kremers, partner, Oliver Wyman; Riad Hartani, partner at Xona, and Alan Horne, CEO Broadband Pioneer and Special Advisor to Global eHealth Foundation.
Commenting on the award, Manoj Kohli, MD and CEO (International) at Bharti Airtel said, “We are humbled by this recognition and the trust that the international industry panel, consumers and other stakeholders have placed on Airtel since our entry into Africa in 2010.
During the past three years, we have managed to serve more communities within the countries that we operate in and hopefully change their lives through not only the voice but also the data and mobile commerce services that we provide. The latter are increasingly becoming essential in Africa.”
In addition, Marcellin Paluku, the Airtel Rwanda Country director said, “We are very excited to win this prestigious award in the Telecom Sector and we applaud the international community for recognising increased investment and innovation by Airtel across all the African markets in an effort to bring services closer to our customers.”
Airtel has the largest 3G and mobile commerce footprint in Rwanda and sub Saharan Africa providing 3G services in 14 African countries.
With Airtel Money services in 17 countries across the continent, the mobile commerce platform is positioned to become Africa’s widest financial services provider serving more diverse communities than any other financial institution in Africa.
Currently leveraging a network of over 100,000 agent locations, Airtel Money facilitates access to financial services for the unbanked population.
A recent survey conducted by the African Business magazine indicates that despite only a 3 year presence in Africa, Airtel is one of Africa’s top ten most admired global brands.
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