Bharti Airtel said it will invest USD 100 million over the next three years to expand in Gabon, one of the countries where it gained a foothold following its USD 10.7 billion acquisition of Zain Telecom’s assets in Africa earlier this year.
“Airtel will invest USD 100 million over the next three years in Gabon to expand the network deeper into the markets and launching innovative products like wireless broadband (and) m—commerce. We will go for far superior market leadership in Gabon,” the CEO of Bharti’s African operations, Manoj Kohli, told PTI from Libreville, the capital of Gabon.
Airtel is looking at penetrating the rural markets of most of the 15 African countries it entered last month. It has already announced similar investments in Zambia, Malawi and Uganda.
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Earlier this month, the company completed its USD 10.7 billion acquisition of the Africa assets of Kuwaiti cellphone operator Zain in one of the largest cross—border deals in Indian history.
Bharti, India’s top mobile services provider, said the deal takes its subscriber base to over 180 million people and will result in combined revenues of over USD 12.4 billion, vaulting it into the ranks of the world’s top five telecom firms.
Bharti has acquired Zain’s operations in Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
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