The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Airtel

  • Airtel partners Lagos on Countdown Festival

    Airtel partners Lagos on Countdown Festival

    Telecommunications company, Airtel Nigeria, has partnered the Lagos State Government to host the 2014 edition of the Lagos Countdown Festival.

    The Lagos Countdown Festival, which holds at the Bar Beach, Victoria Island, Lagos, from December 22, 2014 and runs into the early hours of the New Year, seeks to institute an enduring crossover tradition.

    According to the management of Airtel, the festival will provide an opportunity to bond with young Nigerians and will also create a platform for the display of some of its leading value offerings, including Airtel Trybe and Red Hot promo.

    Commenting on the event, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Nigeria, Segun Ogunsanya, described the Lagos Countdown Festival as a glorious initiative, saying Airtel is passionate about young Nigerians and the youth culture.

    “The Lagos Countdown festival provides Airtel an outlet to interact with the youth on a more personal basis. This year, we will showcase our flagship product, Airtel Trybe, a value offering that is specifically designed to meet the aspirations of young Nigerians and the young-at-heart. We will also have on display, our revolutionary Red Hot promo to further empower more Nigerians to become millionaires.

    “The festival will be a great opportunity to celebrate and close the year in grand style. Airtel is calling on all Lagosians and Nigerians to be part of this great event. We also urge everyone to visit the Airtel stand at the venue as we will be showcasing our superior 3.75G Network,” he said.

    He also commended the efforts of the Lagos State government, adding that the initiative was consistent with Airtel’s ardent drive towards excellence.

    According to the organisers of the festival, the Lagos State Signage & Advertisement Agency (LASAA), Lagos countdown is a viable platform for commerce, encouraging brand development, job creation, leisure, entertainment and tourism.

    The festival features music performances headlined by top music artistes, an enchanting cascade of lights, fireworks and pyrotechnics, all combining to transform the Bar Beach stretch on Victoria Island, Lagos, into a melting pot for culture and commerce.

    Last year, the festival drew an audience of over 60,000 revelers, thus becoming arguably Africa’s biggest New Year’s Eve party. Every year, the Lagos Countdown kicks off in December and runs till January 1.

    The Lagos State Countdown is an initiative of Governor Babatunde Fashola which started in 2012 with the aim of putting the state on global map, in the league of cities such as New York, Dubai, London, Sydney and other major destinations that celebrate the cross over into a New Year.

  • Airtel launches first 4G service in Africa

    Bharti Airtel has  launched Africa’s first 4G service in the Seychelles.

    This makes the Seychelles among the first countries in sub-Saharan Africa to commercially deploy this cutting-edge technology.

    Airtel is leading global telecom services provider with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa.

    This is Airtel’s first commercial LTE network in Africa.The infrastructure is a new, nationwide LTE (Long Term Evolution) 800 MHz network, which will more than meet the growing customer demand for mobile broadband services, whilst delivering superior network performance. The network is expected to cover 10,000 LTE subscribers in the first phase and will greatly enhance connectivity giving Airtel’s customers an improved smartphone experience, with faster web browsing, downloads and improved quality of service. Airtel’s 4G (FD-LTE) network was launched by His Excellency Mr. Danny Fure, Vice President, government of Seychelles.

    The Vice President said: “The deployment of the next generation mobile network across the Seychelles will enable an enhanced mobile experience and reliable services; and will facilitate new and exciting opportunities for businesses, the society and the people in the country.”

    Mr. Christian de Faria, Airtel Africa’s CEO, said: “Today’s launch is a major milestone for Seychelles and Airtel in Africa.

    “We already have Africa’s widest 3G footprint, being present in 17 countries. We are delighted to now provide leadership in setting the technology standard for 4G services in Africa by rolling out this cutting edge LTE network. I would like to thank the team involved in helping fulfill this achievement.”

    Airtel Seychelles Managing Director, Amadou Mahamat Dina, said: “Besides offering rich content, Airtel’s 4G will allow superfast access to High Definition (HD) video streaming, multiple chatting, instant uploading of photos and much more.”

  • Airtel sponsors leadership tour

    Gemstone Nation Building Centre founded by a Lagos-based motivational speaker, Mr Fela Durotoye, has concluded plan to tour eight higher institutions.

    The body is in partnership with a mobile telecommunication firm, Airtel, to host the campus tour tagged Deliver The Future (DTF). The plan was unveiled at a press conference held in Lekki, Lagos, on Tuesday.

    The project, the organisers said, is aimed at reshaping the future of the youths through leadership orientation and national transformation.

    Durotoye said: “The objective of the DTF campus events is about building a new Nigeria through leadership orientation for the youth. We are going to do this from now to December 31, 2025. This is 11 years, two months and 10 days from today.”

    He mentioned the categories of events to be featured in the DTF tour Season 1 to include positive vibes, where students will have opportunity to partake in singing and song-writing contest, public speaking workshop, and an entrepreneurial competition.

    He added: “One way to develop the business ideas is by building the young people and inculcate the spirit of enterprise in them. So we are shortlisting business ideas that can move the campuses during the DTF campus events, because building a new Nigeria starts from now. To do this, we must be able to build the students. Social media platforms such as Google, Facebook and Twitter were founded by young people.

    The chairman of Gemstone Advisory Board, Mr Afolabi Andu, said: “This event will address the issue of basic education. It is not just a lofty idea, it is a reality, because it is shocking that there is decay in the education sector at the moment and this needs to be corrected.”

    The Airtel Head of Youth segment, Mr Segun Aderinokun, said: “Airtel is involved in the project, because in Nigeria, about 75 per cent of our population is made up of youths. So we need to support the youth to develop the country. We see through the vision of empowering the youth. We believe this is just the beginning of amazing things to come, and we all need to push the message out there, so that together we can build the country.”

  • Airtel Trace Music Star: In search of ‘hidden’ talents

    Airtel Trace Music Star: In search of ‘hidden’ talents

    Today, one of Nigeria’s leading telecommunications operators, Airtel Nigeria, in partnership with Trace, an international music video channel, will launch a new music competition tagged ‘Airtel Trace Music Star’, a mobile device song contest designed to empower Nigerian youths and create a robust platform for them to achieve their dreams of becoming super stars.

    The competition, which will take place in 15 African countries, is a mobile song contest which allows contestants to audition from their phones, with one national winner in each country, who will have the honour of performing at the Pan African music competition.

    At the well-attended unveiling ceremony held on Wednesday, September 24, at Fab Lounge, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos, the organisers said contestants could participate by recording their songs with an Airtel line, using a short code and would be aided by an interactive forum in multi-lingual languages, including English and Pidgin.

    The Chief Commercial Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Maurice Newa, said: “Airtel is delighted to be associated with Trace in bringing excitement and providing entertainment opportunities for our teeming customers, especially youths and the music lovers. This initiative is geared towards supporting and nurturing talents of Nigerian youths. In the next few weeks, we will unveil the biggest platform for Nigerians to express their singing talents through their mobile phones from the comfort of any location they choose.

    The Managing Director, Trace Anglophone Africa, Sam Onyemeluke, further stressed that “We are tremendously excited about this pan African partnership with Airtel. Trace is dedicated to African youths and this ground-breaking competition is a great step towards our joint goal of empowering African youth”.

    As a pan-African initiative, the Airtel Trace music competition is designed to hold simultaneously in other African countries, where Airtel operates. The winners from each participating country will then compete in a televised pan-African grand finale, where the African champion will win a trip to the USA to be mentored by megastar, Akon, for a period of two weeks, in addition to a professional music video and a record deal with Universal Music.

  • Airtel, others launch mobile health services

    Airtel, others launch mobile health services

    Leading telecommunications service provider, Airtel Nigeria, has partnered Grameen Foundation and VAS2nets Technologies Limited for two innovative mobile health services – Mobile Midwife and Dial-a-Doctor – to reduce infant and maternal mortality rates in the country.

    The company explained that Mobile Midwife was a special mobile service or vital health care and nutrition information and the Dial-A-Doctor service provides real-time help to expectant mothers, nursing mothers and mothers with children under five.

    At the launch of the products yesterday in Lagos, Airtel Nigeria’s Chief Commercial Officer Maurice Newa said the company was interested in the health and general well-being of expectant mothers and infants.

    He said this was consistent with its corporate vision of becoming the most loved brand among Nigerians.

    The company chief said Airtel was committed to touching lives and enriching Nigerians.

    The Mobile Midwife service was facilitated through a grant provided by the Global System for Mobile Association (GSMA) Connected Women Programme to Grameen Foundation. It got a technical support from VAS2Nets Technologies Limited.

    The Director, GSMA Connected Women Programme Claire Sibthorpe said: “The GSMA Connected Women Programme seeks to accelerate the growth of the female digital economy by working with partners to bring significant socio-economic benefits to women consumers and employees…”

  • Bharti Airtel sells Africa towers for $1billion

    Bharti Airtel Ltd. (BHARTI), India’s largest mobile-phone carrier, agreed to sell more than 3,500 telecommunications towers in Africa to Eaton Towers Limited.

    Bharti Airtel will lease back the towers for 10 years, the companies said in an e-mailed press release yesterday.

    London-based Eaton bought the assets, located in six African countries, for almost $1 billion, said a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified as the details are private.

    The deal may help Bharti Airtel reduce debt which stood at 712.5 billion rupees ($11.8 billion) at the end of June, data compiled by Bloomberg showed. The company agreed in July to sell more than 3,000 towers in four African countries to Helios Towers Africa, offloading infrastructure that can be more expensive to maintain compared with other parts of the world.

    After the purchase, Eaton Towers will own 5,000 towers in seven African countries, according to the press release. The deal doesn’t include Bharti Airtel’s infrastructure in Nigeria, the person said.

  • Airtel revisits school, two years after

    Like a father longing for the protection of his son who lives faraway, telecoms giant, Airtel Nigeria, has revisited St John’s Primary School, Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State.

    The visit was to know the school has mainatained some of the facilities Airtel provided two years ago, while  looking at ways for further improvement.

    St John’s Primary School came under Airtel’s Adopt-A-School initiative four years ago, in the wake of many challenges that have been the lot of the school prior to its adoption. The school then had had to battle with lack of drinkable water, poor facilities, and poor learning environment and writing materials, among others.

    Airtel promptly intervened and provided the school with a block of four classroom and two offices along with pieces of furniture.

    On Thursday last week, workers in the school and members of the community were in a happy mood to reunite with their benefactor.

    The school’s Assistant Head teacher, Mrs Olayemisi Tayo Oseni told recalled to our reporter the sorry state of the school few years ago. She recalled how their condition degenerated to the extent that owing to scarcity of water, both workers and pupils used to take sachet water with them to the ramshackle toilet anytime they were pressed.

    “Pupils were in charge of getting water to clean the toilet whenever it is messy; but it wasn’t the best for them because it was the same time they ought to have spent in class that they wasted while searching for water.

    “I will never forget the day we came to the school and found out that the ‘area boys’ (social miscreants) had messed up the school. This is possible because the school is not fenced round,” she recalled.

    For the Education Secretary, Ijebu North local government education authority (LGEA), Mrs Balogun Misturat, academic performance of the pupils has increased upon Airtel’s intervention.

    She said five classrooms were jumbled into one hall before Airtel assisted the school in partitioning the class, complementing the gesture with dual desks and chairs, fans and electricity.

    The community leader, Olu Azeez told The Nation, that the population of the school now keeps bulging as schoolchildren from other communities now want to be enrolled at St John’s.

    On his part, the head teacher of the school, Mr Adewale Azeez Oladela, also corroborated the community leader.

    “We used to force parents of these children to give them the necessary materials to school. Most of the parents are peasant farmers who barely live from hand to mouth. With Airtel’s provision, most of the children are always in school.”

  • Airtel unveils unique CSR initiative

    Airtel unveils unique CSR initiative

    In a move to realise its corporate vision of becoming the most loved brand in the daily lives of Nigerians, as well as connect emotionally with telecoms consumers across the country, Airtel Nigeria, has announced a major CSR intervention, Airtel Touching Lives,to enrich Nigerians and provide succour to the under-privileged members of the society

    The telco said the initiative marks a significant milestone in it’s history of CSR interventions in the country, noting that ‘Airtel Touching Lives’ is a responsive CSR intervention targeted at providing timely aid to underprivileged Nigerians irrespective of their gender, background, or geographical locations.

    Theprogrammeseeks to identify underprivileged persons with specific challenges, pains and struggles, with the ultimate objective of providing the needed help to empower and enrich the lives of these individuals.

    Speaking at the unveiling  yesterday, the Managing Director/CEO, Segun Ogunsanya, described the programme as a timely, deliberate and responsive CSR initiative aimed at empowering underprivileged Nigerians and tackling the various challenges confronting millions of people.

  • Airtel unveils affordable roaming bundles

    Airtel unveils affordable roaming bundles

    IN line with its vision of providing innovative and affordable mobile telephony solutions, leading telecommunications services provider, Airtel Nigeria, has introduced a unique roaming package that will empower telecoms consumers to connect with business associates, friends and family members at discounted rates.

    Dubbed Airtel Roam and Home, the specialised bundle plan is designed to provide easy, convenient and affordable services to travellers who roam, offering free incoming calls and discounted roaming tariff by up to 90%.

    According to Airtel, the new package is consistent with its vision to be the most loved brand in the daily lives of Nigerians, empowering telecoms consumers to roam at a discounted rate on 28 selected networks in 26 countries.

    Speaking on the innovative product, the chief commercial officer, Airtel Nigeria, Mr. Maurice Newa, stated that through the package, Airtel Nigeria was poised to create unique and exciting experience for its customers who travel for business, trade, holiday, leisure, pilgrimage, festivities or other important activities.

  • Airtel, Apple seal deal

    Airtel, Apple seal deal

    Airtel Nigeria has announced a partnership with mobile phone maker, Apple, and unveiled the iPhone 5s in the country.

    With this, Airtel becomes the first mobile telecoms services provider in Nigeria to seal a partnership deal with Apple.

    The partnership will offer telecoms consumers across the country an opportunity to purchase the iPhones in Airtel showrooms or from the outlets of its channel/retail partners including Slot.

    Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director, Airtel Nigeria, Segun Ogunsanya, described the partnership as the coming together of two great brands, saying it is a demonstration of Apple’s trust in Airtel and Nigeria.

    He added that the partnership underscores Airtel’s unwavering commitment to its vision of becoming Nigeria’s number 1 mobile Internet service provider.

    “At Airtel Nigeria, we believe that the future of mobile telephony is mobile Internet and so we are repositioning to revolutionise this landscape with innovative value offerings and strategic partnerships.

    “Our partnership with Apple is a glowing testimony to our desire to lead with Internet. Our enviable track record also provides us a leverage to empower more Nigerians to enjoy super-fast Internet services on their devices and mobile phones on the Airtel network,” he said.

    Ogunsanya also noted that Airtel is embarking on a wide-scale expansion, modernisation and transformation of its network.

    “Our goal is to ensure that telecoms consumers enjoy the best experience on voice, visual and video as they engage and connect with friends and family members as well as transact their businesses on the Airtel network,” he said.

    The iPhone 5s is described by experts as the most forward-thinking smartphone in the world. iPhone 5s sets a precedent, with an amazing amount of technology in a remarkably thin, light design. It builds on that achievement with Touch ID — a ûngerprint identity sensor. An A7 chip with 64-bit architecture.