India's biggest mobile operator is in the process of revamping it's business in Africa. Bharti Airtel is the largest mobile-phone operator in India with 118 m subscribers, and they are looking to extend their reach in Africa by purchasing Zain. Zain is a Kuwaiti telecoms firm in 15 African countries, with about 42 m subscribers. Bharti feels that by purchasing Zain they would be able to operate in a market that only has 3 other competitors as well as take advantage of the increased mobile-banking in Africa. A huge opportunity for marketers lies in the expansion and re-introduction of Zain to the African market. This opportunities lies mainly within the reaches of small and medium enterprises.
Currently most entrepreneurs in countries like Kenya, Tanzania and Nigeria do their banking via programs such as Zap (which is offered by Zain), which allows customers to conduct various financial transactions, including purchasing groceries. With the increased reach of mobile devices in these regions, entrepreneurs can and should take advantage of marketing their products utilizing mobile phones. While Zain offers services such as "Bulk SMS" which allows mass text messages to reach a designated audience it has yet to utilize it's platform "Zain Create" in many African countries. This platform allows for video and music downloads but would transform the businesses in Africa if businesses were able to create Applications that took orders for products as well as linked customers in other regions with their products.
Bharti intends to begin outsourcing the IT of Zain and with less competition they will be able to earn more revenues per user. With their infrastructure and ability to increase revenue they could do a lot for African businesses by focusing on mobile to mobile marketing.
Commercial for Zain
http://www.zain.com/muse/obj/lang.default/portal.view/content/Media%20centre/TV%20Commercials/Schoolgirl
Source: The Economist: Low Cost Bundle - February 20-26th 2010
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