Bharti Airtel signed an Agreement with the Warid Group

Bharti Airtel on 5 November 2013 entered into an agreement with the Warid Group to acquire its Congo operations with the objective of strengthening its stronghold in the African market. The acquisition will make Airtel the largest mobile operator in the Republic of Congo with around 2.6 million customers. At present, Airtel is the second largest operator in that country with over 1.6 million customers, while Warid is the third largest with around one million customers.

This is the second acquisition by Airtel in African continent. It had acquired Warid’s Uganda operations earlier in 2013. The agreement will bring together the strengths of Airtel and Warid in Congo Brazzaville. It will benefit customers in the form of affordable tariffs, superior 2G/ 3G network and affordable voice and data services.

Airtel had over 66 million customers at the end of September 2013 in the region with its presence across 17 African countries. Bharti Airtel is ranked fourth largest mobile operator at world level with operation in 20 countries and had over 280 million customers at the end of September 2013.