Zain invests US$12 billion in Africa

Zain Group of Kuwait has invested over US$12 billion in its African operations with the acquisition of Celtel international, said Zain Africa CEO Chris Gabriel at last week's Word Telecoms Africa Conference in South Africa.

The company expects to invest more money in the region in new license acquisitions across the continent, he said.

Zain Kenya last week announced and investment of over $374 million to improve infrastructure and upgrade its network in rural areas, while in Nigeria, Zain has promised to invest $1 billion annually. The company has also promised that it will continue investing in infrastructure development across Zambia in order to provide mobile phone connectivity in rural areas.

The company is targeting 110 million subscribers in Africa and the Middle East by the year 2011 from the current combined subscriber base of 50 million.

In addition to investing in infrastructure development, Gabriel said Zain plans to make 10 new acquisitions across Africa, including in Ghana, later this year in order to allow subscribers to roam freely in countries where the company operates under its borderless network program.

Many African countries including Zambia, however, have refused to liberalize their telecom markets by denying private operators to own their international gateways.

"Liberalization of the African telecommunications markets is vital for continued growth and will bring competition and explosive growth to the sector," Gabriel said.

So far, Zain has refused to launch its borderless network in Zambia because of the Zambian government's refusal to liberalize its international gateway.