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
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…
yeah kencell to celtel to zain to nw that air………….y the rebranding all the time,safaricom has stood its ground bt one thing that air……should appprecaite is that safaricom has the advantage of being a first mover in the market.no matter what safaricom has beaten them is beating them and will beat them all da best in the fight airtel finally got the name
airtel, a cool brand…… better things on board
Airtel has started a new thing with mobile users. It sends SMSes, without the customer asking for it, every day for which it quietly charges Re. 1 per day for each type of SMS. This earns them a revenue of several lakhs per day for sending senseless and irrelevant SMSes. On complaining, the Nodal Officer just rants in general and on being pushed, they just reverse the charges, without ever explaining on whose authority they started this service, in the first place.
Airtel service is going down. Beware, if you get messages like this, because they are being charged to you. Immediately complain in writing and ask who has authorized this service.