Cost Cutting

Going up against market leaders such as MTN of South Africa, Airtel applied a
strategy of extensive cost cutting. This followed on what it achieved in India, cutting
a deal with Ericsson for per-minute fees (rather than upfront payment) that enabled
very low-cost call rates from the outset. Airtel has an all-Africa, five-year deal in
place with Ericsson for network management that offers similar advantages.
Elsewhere, Airtel is engaged with Nokia Siemens Networks and Huawei, not keeping
all its eggs in one basket, of course.
Bharti appoints African professionals to drive business
As with any cross border acquisition, there can be major concerns due to cultural
complexities. One of the biggest challenges in a cross-border transaction such as
this is overcoming cultural and business differences. From a business perspective,
cultural differences and the lack of local knowledge to operate in foreign markets
and retain local talent decreases the likelihood of success.
Fortunately for Zain and the respective African countries, Airtel, has announced the
appointment of African professionals to its top management as it moves to entrench
its operations on the continent.
The company said it would continue tapping into the diversity of Africas world-class
talent pool. Airtel emphasized that the appointments were in line with the
companys business strategy of developing human capital and empowering local
operations. Such a commitment to developing human capital and empowerment is
in contrast to the approach often exercised by Chinese corporations where top and
middle managerial positions are reserved solely for the Chinese.

Affordability and innovation

In a bid to positively impact the telecoms industry on the African continent, Bharti
Airtel Limited and IBM announced the selection of IBM to manage the computing
technology and services that will enhance Bharti Airtels mobile network.
As well as deploying and managing information technology (IT) infrastructure and
applications, IBM will deploy advanced technologies created by IBM Research,
including the Spoken Web a voice-enabled Internet that allows users to access and
share information simply by talking over the existing telephone network, which is
particularly compelling for populations with little or no literacy, visual impairments,
or lack access to computers.

3G services in Africa

The partnerships take us one step closer to our vision of making telephony available
and affordable for everyone across Africa, even in the most remote areas which are
at present disconnected from the world. We are also laying the foundation for the
introduction of 3G HSPA wireless broadband as access to content is the right of
every African citizen. Mobile broadband is a catalyst for economic growth and
development. Many of our new customers will have an online experience for the
first time in their lives.

Acquisitions
Acquisition strategy of Bharti Airtel led them to change its organizational structure
and culture as they expanded its operation into Africa. Hence, they cannot do its
operations in Africa with its previous organizational structures and cultures when
they do business in Africa. Accordingly Bharti Airtel must adopt and use
transformational changes such as adoption to African culture and regulations etc. .
So as to develop and implement strategies in order achieve a sustainable growth.
With the acquisition of Zain Africa, Bharti Airtel has been able to enter top five
mobile network operators in the world.
Bharti Airtel and Zain Africa fit well together because both companies have valuable
skills and experience to deliver quality telephony services to the customers. As a
result, there is an opportunity for Bharti Airtel to be the market leader in Africa.
Global reputation of Bharti Airtel increases due to this acquisition, Increase in global
customers of Bharti Airtel by an amount of 42 million.
This acquisition has led Bharti Airtel to boost its achievements in telecommunication
sector in worldwide, finally this acquisition of Zain Africa as a growth strategy
enables Bharti Airtel to expand its business operations to a greater extent.

Network transformation
Bharti Airtel has completed a network transformation programme across its mobile
operations in 16 African countries in partnership with Ericsson.
The programme involved upgradation and expansion of network elements on all of
Airtel's African operations, including switching, radio, network management, data,
charging, and consumer-services platforms and systems, the company said in a
statement.