Airtel Africa feted at Africa Com Awards

Andre Beyers, Chief Marketing Officer, Airtel Africa (left) & Chidi Okpala, Director and Head of Airtel Money(right), with the awards in Cape Town, South Africa

Bharti Airtel Africa reinforced its continued contribution to the pan-African telecoms landscape after being recognized by an independent panel of industry experts at the AfricaCom Awards.

Now in their 7th year, the AfricaCom Awards are recognized as the premier accolade for anyone operating in Africa's digital market.

Airtel Africa won two awards – Best Mobile Money Solution with Airtel Money and Best App for Africa with its intuitive Airtel Internet application – highlighting the company’s contribution in Africa. The awards were announced at a Gala Dinner in Cape Town, South Africa yesterday evening.

Airtel Money users have increased to 5.3 million, compared to 1.8 million in the corresponding quarter last year. Meanwhile, the total number of transactions on the platform increased threefold to 131 million in the quarter, up from just 44 million in the same period in 2013; and the total value of transactions grew almost fourfold to $3.3 billion compared to $867 million last year. Christian de Faria, MD and CEO of Airtel Africa said more than five million customers carry out an average of over 1.4 million daily transactions, demonstrating the company’s huge contribution towards financial accessibility.

Airtel’s Internet.org application was awarded for its significant impact in making the internet accessible through a set of free basic services, ultimately driving more customers online. Data revenue for Airtel’s African operations grew 57 per cent, thanks to a 50.4 per cent increase in the region’s data customers. Mobile data now represents 10 per cent of Africa’s overall revenue compared to 6.6 per cent a year ago.

Commenting on the awards, Airtel Africa’s CEO, Christian de Faria said: “These two awards highlight our renewed efforts to drive a cashless society in Africa and mobile data growth, resulting from our investments over the 4 years we have been in Africa. On behalf of Airtel Africa, we are emboldened by this recognition and will continue to sharpen our focus towards tackling today’s social challenges through technology.”

For 2014, the AfricaCom panel focused on innovation and relevance to market needs. The AfricaCom Awards 2014 reflected the creativity and vibrancy towards delivering effective solutions to market challenges and feted breakthroughs and players shaping the telecoms and ICT sectors.