Warid merger shakes market - Airtel Africa

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FINANCE-TRADE-INDUSTRY INNOVATION MANAGEMENT-
Airtel - Warid merger shakes market
Players, experts psitiwe that strong competition
can spur industry growth, standards
T
and Airtel are merging subpd
he news that tekammunica-
I~ON giants Warid Teiwm
to @tory approMZ has
used jittersin the indq.
It'sadeal-BhartiAirteLthe
@r, has signed anipment & pin o&mtiomwith
Warid Teleaun, in what accordjng.bsedor
experls, could potentially mlt
into a tw~horse race with MTN Ugandk
At theend of UnO when Warid TeleCom
entered the Ugandan market, it set off an
intense prim Laving the o k major players
like MIN Uganda, Aid and Lm had no
choke but toplay ball.
This time round analyts say MIN
in U m will add 28 million cv8tomers
whi& could efkarvely take krtel's user
bar in the rrmntry to 7.4 million. puttmg it
almost on equal footing with MTN.
Bhm India's top mobile phone carrier, in
2010 ventured inio~frica it a time when
growth in its home market had started
showing sip of saturation lhe company,
which bought mom-losing owratim
in 15Afri&countn&for@Oiar, has
repoitedlv not broken even yet.
In a statement Manoj Kqhli, the managing
dirw and chid executive officer
(Lntemational) for Bharh AM, said hey
would combine the hew of the two
entities to em over 7A d o n customers
m Uganda .. with "world& and affordable
Uganda whose &4-share i recorded at wvies" He said customers would enjoy
about 52O. must bear the brunt of the gruel- and in favor of the telecommunication see- wider mork merage and Mbution as
ing war alone. While some market exprts tor, government and our customers," he well as innovative produds and services.
believe having the two players join hands said, addii that MTN has been mopid He said exisling Wuid Uganda cusbm-
for a head-on competition would fuel more as number one and is cumtly the leader in ers will join over 269 million ~~tomers on
competition in the sector and perhaps force all categories and will continue leading the Airtel's global network aacss 20 -tries
MTN's market share to shrink, MIN top delivery of the digital services in Uganda. and enjoy the bersefits of a suprrior netbosses
are confident He dismissed claims that the ma~lnal work
"We will remain number one in this mar- inawse in subvriber numbers by tl; two Kohli said: 'We are dehghted at this
ket" huC tKlN's chief evrmtive operators would affec their leading agreement with Warid, which ah
happens
officer, told joumalisrs on Aplil25. "We tion driven by innovation as one of they to be the fimt in-market aoquis~lion in Bharti
haw been inv@ing in our network and we brand due+ AiaeYs histwv."
will continue to do-& to ensure we remain Overthelnst14yearsshncethefirst He said thejr believed thismarket cgnthe
prekrred netwark" mobile call was made in Uganda, MaPR1 didation o h
Mazen said they are investing more in said they haw c?en the number of sub&- together the best of-I and Warid to
gf"tynergb by bringing
network infraekudum to improve swim ers bmobile phone &(PS rise to ow
14 better serve tomew win Uganda and drive
delivery. In 2012 alone, the company's
IZUII~~~O~WII~~~~.~OI~U~O~~~~O~MTN
forward their vision of ofhhg aMor(4able
company says the investment has been He added that the reoent upgrade of He added 'This d win
mdy faused on expadng their network MIN3Gspeedupto42Mbps,laurhof tmnslate into a healthier sector in
tffhnology as well as rolling out of fibre WiFi hotspots and the recent inhoduchon of Ugandawhidlwinbedy toinvestand
4G LTEnehvorkareaUmnsiderpd keysuc- grow in w*elew bmdband and mobile
Going forward in 2013, the company is cess factors and brand value shengths. commerce service+,' he said
investing another $70 70on to support the "All these will enarre that MTN Uganda Mohammed Nahayan a hsdmember
mains number one in leading the &ivery for Warid Uganda, said theywere "exheme-
-
of a bold, new diM world to customem,"
In a separate email sent to The Indepar-
-
ly" pleased with the develqFonent as it
he stressed.
offers Warid calsumersworld damproddent
Mazensaid the cowlidation of the But it's unlihlv that the Airtel-Warid ucts and services from one of the wosWs
seamd (Airtel) and third (Wadd) nehvork partnersldp will how MTN to continue krgeatmobiie&oerpwidem.
ombs in the market was "verv. good - for dominting without a fight Airtel hopes 'Thjsis a win-win foiWivid ~tomers
&e sector::.
to haease its customer base in the coun@y whowillnwvbsngfitfromkhgprtofa
"As MTNUeralda mnamnent, we bv 60%. Available data shows h t Wrid 7.4 million comliined userbase in Urn& -
strongly be&: that this &p is my good &number three mobiiePhone mmpany hesaid.

I
Ailments
Rev&e~uUumlyskeenm~(kir. ,
handsonthesame~itmuld~
someopftalgaimtaxaantingfromdie
transachon Workers m bolh awn@&
are wary of what the metger muld meen
tothrjolas. Howm,managementhas
urged*=ploF--~
"customesswithtksarnezesttilatckqr
have been demmshth all t ke vears.
u g d a c o m m d c o d
WCC) execuhve dkdvr. badad the ded
"ItLindeedagwddealfort~e~
niesandLorUle-,"hssaidad*
MIN would now hau~a~onnpwOr bZBn #0d
r--JCI
~Pf.qmabaa
Z X e U C C & * ~ b o ~ that more -likely one to atttaci more subsaibers
-.mnataftecsednega*bp:
h-.inm..
and would ~IVW its marhet share.
. . $ ..~~~~fidals Hesaysewnifthecqqymimdonot
Hi;*
code, &by respondtoUCCscaUastO~onon
-,-
. . thelrown shift to the n&wo& that offem
-.~jselta, &q&,@ m*, reliabluty, creativity and bettersolu-
$&i&@~itt~U**
$$#+it @5:~.ar!tualed~hmmW. accommodate mae playeis &longer as
&&& ~; . ~.?ci@iwtn'
theymnahhovativeandcreatiwby
Ue:wF-wd b& on board pmducts that not only
Rutthatisyet&besoar. a& not able to accommodate manu-
W said* Auld-Warid deal reau- tors
labyappmvalspprovalwouMne+takelong,m& He said dher market analysts stdl Mew
ingfhaewillbeac&mdmbgpmcessas the market can only accommodate three
~~tesWaIidUganda compdes in the voice and data segments
He said however, he mark& is open for "and mast likelv there will be another take
new playem and the Md-be mergers.
"Ourmarket has mcae
~toothwrm~e wxG?EZ%e
saidRwandahaseight williontelecom
mbaibmmththreeoperabns, which
ixa &sign tha( U@ whose total
~n~aredoseto17m1Uion,
could even ammndak double Rwanda's
.. , ,'
~e anmtned h& thp regula~~'s view
c h a t h e ~ ~ p m e n t ~ ~ ~
.-
Midraelh'iyik$eka,aninfcflMIla,d .
aekannmrmica-expntalsoaeolrclutat
at CkMM Group, said comwfitim~
a b d maturners to their newark but arr
bene8claltothem.
He backad-agnge'smtrationon
ctreasa-t-it-ittoranain~~ctreaar%rnW
~ ~ i t s ~ o l r e & b ~ 1 d e s t
i n ~ ~ @ V a 8 i t ~ t
andcatchupwitho&ersaadwingmd
&share.
"Butthatsqidnpthhrgiastatio~tfris
aarlcet"hesid"tniaraneadpwmare
rnesgm and acqliSiB0~8P m
that Charles Oaa, the execuhve ~ &OI of loyaltv to the alte
Enterprise Uganda, says. Whde they says.
hurt business
divert this money to set up medium term
investments, he adds, such inv@ments 1
5.w-
may be risky because they do not generate
jnmediate cash hence cause cash flow
t's common to hear of busineses that instability. Others weigh the probability Many succ~ful businesses hire tax
,have been dosed or had their directors of getting caught and pavinp, a penalty advisors whileothers have tax xhedules. 1 armted by the tax aurtsolifies because ag&t &e pr6babilit); oi be&iable t6 "If you are caught evading taxes, negoti-
1f lax evasion. Some are stin buying time keep the evaded income. It is a risky . game - ate with Uganda Revenue Authority how 1
to dear their tax arraa~ WhwWhw@ try to thaimust be avoided at all costs. you are to get the problem &rted
I
reduce your taxes by mwdng incaw, Odd ates possible arrest and prosecu- out. Commit yourself to meet d your
inflahgexpemes,~of~ tion, operation intem~ptions, huge penal- . tax obligations," Ocki advises. If you are
and willful violatbnof~ @laws. you ties, image damam, customer loss as du&t up m a hwe tax bill, you d d
have cummined theoi6eroedk ei&m. some of he mmiquenca of tax evasion. liqddathsume of your assets or lake up a
"So~~ualsm&e~because"You will loeecustomers and it is difficult bank loan if you are credit worthy ass
to win them back because they can shift resort..
- H