Airtel Networks Limited


Airtel Networks Limited is a leading mobile telecommunications company in Nigeria. According to the Subscribers statistics released by Nigerian Communications Commission on 30 August 2019, Airtel Nigeria has 26.8% mobile telephone market share and 46.8 million subscribers. The company is a member of Airtel Africa, the holding firm for Bharti Airtel's operations in 14 countries in Africa.

Location

Airtel Nigeria is headquartered at Plot L2, Banana Island, Ikoyi, Lagos, a major economic nerve-point in Nigeria.

History

The company was founded in 2001 as Econet Nigeria and was awarded Digital Mobile License for communication service in Nigeria. It made history on August 5, 2001 by becoming the first telecommunications service provider to launch commercial GSM services in Nigeria. In 2004, Vodacom took charge of the company as management changed hands. Later in 2004, Vee Networks took the reins of the company and became known as Vmobile. In May 2006, Vmobile was acquired by Celtel. In 2008, Zain Group, another telecommunications company acquired all Celtel International's  shares of over $3 billion. As a result of this acquisition, all operations of Celtel Africa was rebranded from Celtel to Zain. In 2010, Bharti Airtel, the parent company of Airtel Nigeria, completed the acquisition of Zain Group's Africa business in a $10.7 billion transaction.

Overview

Airtel Nigeria is the second-largest telecommunications company in Nigeria by number of customers, behind MTN Nigeria. It has an estimated 46.8 million subscribers representing 26.8% market share and in terms of mobile internet users, Airtel Nigeria has the second-largest users with 32.4 million subscribers in July 2019.

Capital Market Listing

On July 9, 2019, Airtel Africa, the holding firm of Airtel Nigeria and Bharti Airtel's Africa subsidiary, listed 3,758,151,504 ordinary shares on the main board of the Nigerian Stock Exchange at an offer price of ₦363 per ordinary share.

Governance

Mr Segun Ogunsanya is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Networks Limited in Nigeria since November 2012. Prior to his current appointment, he was the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Bottling Company Limited, a subsidiary of Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company Inc.