Cost CuttingGoing up against market leaders such as MTN of South Africa, Airtel applied a strategy of extensive cost cutting. This followed on what it achieved in India, cutting a deal with Ericsson for per-minute fees (rather than upfront payment) that enabled very low-cost call rates from the outset. Airtel has an all-Africa, five-year deal in place with Ericsson for network management that offers similar advantages. Elsewhere, Airtel is engaged with Nokia Siemens Networks and Huawei, not keeping all its eggs in one basket, of course.Bharti appoints African professionals to drive businessAs with any cross border acquisition, there can be major concerns due to cultural complexities. One of the biggest challenges in a cross-border transaction such as this is overcoming cultural and business differences. From a business perspective, cultural differences and the lack of local knowledge to operate in foreign markets and retain local talent decreases the likelihood of success. Fortunately for Zain and the respective African countries, Airtel, has announced the appointment of African professionals to its top management as it moves to entrench its operations on the continent. The company said it would continue tapping into the diversity of Africas world-class talent pool. Airtel emphasized that the appointments were in line with the companys business strategy of developing human capital and empowering local operations. Such a commitment to developing human capital and empowerment is in contrast to the approach often exercised by Chinese corporations where top and middle managerial positions are reserved solely for the Chinese.

Affordability and innovationIn a bid to positively impact the telecoms industry on the African continent, Bharti Airtel Limited and IBM announced the selection of IBM to manage the computing technology and services that will enhance Bharti Airtels mobile network.As well as deploying and managing information technology (IT) infrastructure and applications, IBM will deploy advanced technologies created by IBM Research, including the Spoken Web a voice-enabled Internet that allows users to access and share information simply by talking over the existing telephone network, which is particularly compelling for populations with little or no literacy, visual impairments, or lack access to computers.3G services in AfricaThe partnerships take us one step closer to our vision of making telephony available and affordable for everyone across Africa, even in the most remote areas which are at present disconnected from the world. We are also laying the foundation for the introduction of 3G HSPA wireless broadband as access to content is the right of every African citizen. Mobile broadband is a catalyst for economic growth and development. Many of our new customers will have an online experience for the first time in their lives.AcquisitionsAcquisition strategy of Bharti Airtel led them to change its organizational structure and culture as they expanded its operation into Africa. Hence, they cannot do its operations in Africa with its previous organizational structures and cultures when they do business in Africa. Accordingly Bharti Airtel must adopt and use transformational changes such as adoption to African culture and regulations etc. .So as to develop and implement strategies in order achieve a sustainable growth.With the acquisition of Zain Africa, Bharti Airtel has been able to enter top five mobile network operators in the world.Bharti Airtel and Zain Africa fit well together because both companies have valuable skills and experience to deliver quality telephony services to the customers. As a result, there is an opportunity for Bharti Airtel to be the market leader in Africa.Global reputation of Bharti Airtel increases due to this acquisition, Increase in global customers of Bharti Airtel by an amount of 42 million.This acquisition has led Bharti Airtel to boost its achievements in telecommunication sector in worldwide, finally this acquisition of Zain Africa as a growth strategy enables Bharti Airtel to expand its business operations to a greater extent.Network transformationBharti Airtel has completed a network transformation programme across its mobile operations in 16 African countries in partnership with Ericsson.The programme involved upgradation and expansion of network elements on all of Airtel's African operations, including switching, radio, network management, data, charging, and consumer-services platforms and systems, the company said in a statement.