Airtel’s subscribers’ base grows 31 per cent

:Two years after it took over an existing
network, Airtel Nigeria has grown its
subscriber base by 31 per cent or additional
five and half million persons to hit 20 million
subscribers.
Airtel Nigeria CEO and Managing Director Mr.
Rajan Swaroop disclosed the growth in the
company’s numbers and improvement in
other indices at a Media Roundtable held
Wednesday at the Lagos Sheraton Hotel,
Ikeja.
Swaroop said the growth in subscriber
numbers at Airtel was one of several
indicators of growing customer acceptance
and love of the brand that seeks as its vision to be the most loved brand in all its markets.
Traffic on the Airtel network grew by 124 per cent since the 2010 acquisition by the Bharti
Airtel Group. Airtel Nigeria is the lodestar in the 16-country African operations of Bharti Airtel
with head office in Nairobi, Kenya.
The growth has also come on the back of an investment of $1.2billion (approximately
N192billion) within the period, innovations in marketing as well as in the network that have
positively influenced the Nigerian telecommunications landscape.
Swaroop disclosed that Airtel has launched nearly 3000 3.75G sites with presence in 150
towns and cities across Nigeria. The Airtel 3G network is now the largest such network in all
of Africa, he further disclosed, as the company connects rural communities with broadband
services. Airtel also offers the best Internet experience in Nigeria, the CEO added.
Airtel is investing in building additional 2000 kilometres to its existing 5000 kilometre fibre
transmission network to ensure even deeper market penetration and capacity to handle its
rapid subscriber growth. The Airtel Nigeria Chief Executive asserted that the existing network
has capacity to take additional 10 million subscribers even as the company increases its
capacity rapidly.
“We can double our existing customer base without congestion on the network,” Swaroop
added.
He said this was possible because of investments on the network including a network data
centre launched in Lagos in April as well as further investments to ensure additional capacity
at base stations.