Airtel to forge deals with GSM cos in Africa, Middle-East

Bharti Airtel and six other mobile operators serving the Africa and Middle-East markets will come together for network infrastructure sharing pacts to provide Internet and mobile broadband access to rural communities at a lower cost.

The senior leaders from mobile operator groups who will support the initiative will include Christian de Faria, CEO, Bharti Airtel Africa; Ahmad Julfar, Group CEO, Etisalat; Sifiso Dabengwa, CEO and President, MTN Group; Nasser Marafih, Group CEO, Ooredoo; Marc Rennard, senior executive vice president (Africa, Middle East & Asia), Orange; Serpil Timuray, CEO (Africa, Middle East & Asia Pacific Region) Vodafone Group and Scott Gegenheimer, CEO, Zain Group.

The companies have presence in 76 mobile network operations across 47 countries in Africa and the Middle East, where many of the unconnected population live in rural areas, GSMA said in a media statement.