Thaindian News

New Delhi/Lagos, May 11 (IANS) Nigerian telecom regulator has ranked Indian telecom giant Bharti Airtel’s Nigerian unit — Airtel Nigeria — as the best operator for good quality of service.

Of the four GSM operators in Nigeria, Airtel recorded the best performances in call set up success rate, call completion rate, drop call rate and traffic channel congestion, the audit report for March and April 2012 posted on Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC’s) website showed.

“We began the journey of building a network with the best quality of service about 18 months ago. I am glad today that our efforts have started yielding positive results,” said Rajan Swaroop, chief executive officer and managing director of Airtel Nigeria.

“But this is just the beginning; we will not relent in actualizing our vision of being the most loved brand in the daily lives of Nigerians. We will continue to delight telecom consumers with a robust network and innovative products and services,” he added.

Airtel Nigeria recently launched the largest 3.75G network in Nigeria with coverage in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

Earlier during the month, Bharti Airtel had also reported 16 percent growth in revenue in its Africa operations at $1.2 billion during the quarter ended March 31 over the like period of the previous financial year.

The firm’s customer base crossed 53 million mark with the addition of 2.2 million customers during the same quarter.

Bharti Airtel in 2010 had inked a multi-billion deal to acquire the African assets of Kuwait’s Zain in what made the combined entity the world’s fifth largest mobile telephony firm. Though the firm’s revenue has steadily grown in Africa, it is yet to make a profit.