Bharti Airtel. A worldful world but the New Logo Sucks…!

It is now called Bharti Airtel Ltd.  Is it still A wonderful world?  To start with, the tag line “Worlderful World” is great but   it does not sound Airtel, may be they should change it to something Airish.. That aside  Kenyan unit has come from far, very far indeed. From Kencell,( i still have good memories of that) to Celtel to Zain to …. and that might not be the end of the re-branding.   According information from the new born brand Officials, Kenyan unit will focus on reducing call rates and expanding its customer base after changing its name to Airtel Networks Kenya Ltd. from Zain Kenya.

Focus on reducing calling rates? Now that is wow.  We all have to love Zain, mmmh Airtel. They completely changed the dynamics of mobile telephony industry in Kenya with their price cut activities in the recent months. Thanks to them communicating either through voice calls or text messages in Kenya has never been this cheaper and fun before.  Whether they are gaining is another matter but for now they have forced all the other operators to reduce their calling rates to the bare minimum and we all say amen.

“We’re driven by the vision of making mobile communications affordable and available for all. Access to mobile communications will give people the freedom to achieve their goals in life, transforming how people communicate and how communities interact,” said Airtel Kenya managing director Rene Meza .  On closer look, due to the above vision, voice services is no longer an option for the operators in terms of revenues in Kenya. Now the alternative path to profitability is through  data and mobile money transfer and banking.

The Rural Areas Factor

In terms of getting new subscribers, rural areas is the next focus for many operators. True to the word Airtel has seen that  the bigger obstacle to getting the rural folks connected could be the price of the mobile phones.  They have announced a new  package that includes a Nokia 1280 mobile phone, a free Airtel SIM card and the equivalent value in free Airtel talk time and SMS text messages all at Sh1,850.

“Delivering on that opportunity through affordable and available mobile communications for everyone is our focus and this new Airtel package effectively removes the cost of entry for even the poorest people in the most remote areas,”  Meza on the new package.

Before i forget

Everything is changed here. ZAP mobile money service has  been re-branded to Airtel Money with immediate effect.  Social media was not left behind  “Zain Kenya” Facebook group  is now  “Airtel Networks Kenya”  and there is a new  logo with Red as the primary color.

Talking about the new Logo…yes that one.


Airtel Logo
Airtel Logo

Does it sucks or not?  On Twitter :

@Shiko_Msa: Now that #airtel logo is not bad at all compared to Zain’s mosquito coil.

@coldtusker: Showing #Airtel logo on @KTNKenya but it doesnt have the oomph of @SafaricomLtd < too much red, whats the sign again?

musingsman : And Dear #Airtel, yr new logo n pukeworthy new tune and new advert is the No1 reason I’ll move to #Idea #numberportability

pranayswarup The new #Airtel logo sucks!

@coldtusker @Buggz79 @JustDes @TChenya #justsaying airtel new logo reminds of #Tintin comic pirate ear

Officially that logo is like a face on some horror movies…

Kennedy Kachwanya1087 Posts

--- Kennedy Kachwanya is a technology blogger interested in mobile phones both smart and dumb, mobile apps, mobile money, social media, startups ecosystem and digital Savannah. New media must not forget the strength of old tech.

Login

Welcome! Login in to your account

Remember me Lost your password?

Lost Password