Airtel targets the young with free internet to grow customer base

Airtel Kenya has sought to complement its business strategy with a robust programme that offers free Internet to schools and pupils with no access to the services. The company says it will invest Sh30 million in the venture annually for the next five years, in a move viewed as a strategy to endear young users to the company’s data platform.

This is as it seeks to disrupt the mobile data market that has been under the stranglehold of Safaricom. The announcement came after Airtel and Telkom Kenya’s Orange received regulatory approval to start testing Fourth Generation (4G) technology on their networks using their current frequency spectrum.

Growth frontier

The focus in data and increased investment in the young population through corporate social responsibility initiatives is meant to endear the Airtel brand to the youth, which is increasingly viewed as Kenya’s next frontier of growth.

The authorisation by the Communications Authority of Kenya means the two mobile operators can eventually launch the service commercially and increase competition in the data market segment. Using their core competency of technology, the Indian-owned telco has connected over 60 schools and 52,000 students to free Internet and plans to reach one million across the country in the next 18 months.

“Airtel has chosen to invest in the development of education in the country through the provision of free access to the Internet for students,” said Airtel Kenya Chief Executive Officer Adil El Youssefi recently.

“We believe that the students will be proud to join this free-information super highway for their own individual success and that of their communities.”

Currently, only Safaricom has commercially launched the high-speed wireless data Internet service in the country. Fourth generation long term evolution or simply 4G LTE, supports wireless communication of high-speed data for mobile phones.

Besides using initiatives that touch on their core competency, the telco is also targeting the youth through partnership with the Ministry of Sports to support the Kenya Secondary Sports football championship. The partnership will see it reach 4,000 schools and over two million students.

So far, the firm has connected students in Cheptais High School (Bungoma County), Achego Girls’ Secondary School, Patrick’s Oduwa School and God Abuoro Secondary School in Kisumu County. Others are New Horizon College and Tadhib Academy (Kilifi County) and Redeemed Gospel Church - Mother’s Care Academy in Huruma, Nairobi County.

Business strategy

With Sh24 billion in capital investment, Airtel has also set its sights on the expansion of its subscriber base by coming up with a number of business strategies. The result has been a 23 per cent customer market share, up six per cent from last year.

The mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) is another business strategy through which Airtel Kenya plans to disrupt the market. The model is believed to have registered over a million customers in the past six months.

Some of the MVNOs that were licensed by the regulator in April 2014 included Zioncell, Tangaza Pesa and Finserve (a subsidiary of Equity Bank). The licensing meant that these MVNOs could provide all forms of mobile cellular services to customers using the communication infrastructure of Airtel Kenya.

Kenya Airways also has an MVNO license, which would help the airline offer cellular services such as customer registration, SIM card issuance, billing and customer service to end users without holding a spectrum licence.

Airtel Kenya Corporate Affairs Director Dick Omondi told Business Beat that the company would intensify its social responsibility activities in the coming years to give back to the society where it operates. “Our plan is to connect more with our customers and there is no better way to reach them other than with programmes that seek to fill the gaps in people’s lives and give them a better life,” said Omondi.

Omondi observed that the company was not just targeting schools and children, but had initiated a number of other projects to help Kenyans including the recent donation of 25 space heaters to 12 hospitals in Kiambu.

The firm also donated 40 solar lamps in Machackos last week to serve 1,200 students.