The Smartphone Network Leads The Industry With 61.7% Of All Airtel Customers Actively Using Data Services – Representing The Highest Data To Voice Customer Penetration Ratio On Any Network In The Country

Airtel, Ghana’s Best Data and Internet Service Provider, has chalked another significant milestone – crossing the 60% mark for voice to data adoption rate for customers on the Smartphone network as per the latest Telecoms Subscriber Report released by the National Communications Authority for April 2016.

For the month under review, Airtel maintained its outstanding growth in data recording 3.04M data customers and firmly entrenching its position as the third largest telecom services provider for mobile data and internet services.

With voice subscription nearing saturation, according to industry experts, growth in Ghana’s competitive telecommunication industry will be driven largely by mobile data. Currently, voice subscriptions is over 36 million representing a penetration rate of 131.63% and mobile data subscriber numbers stands at 18.6m – a penetration rate of 67.29%.

Airtel Ghana has consistently led the growth of the mobile data segment over the past one and half years recording month on month growth, springing to the number 3 position and currently exceeding the 60% threshold of total mobile data to voice customers’ ratio on its network.

Speaking to this impressive performance, Airtel Ghana’s Managing Director and reigning Telecom CEO of the Year, Lucy Quist said “this is truly a remarkable feat and everyone at Airtel Ghana should be proud of this achievement. Mobile data remains the biggest growth segment in the industry. It is also a segment that drives significant value for customers – be it individuals or enterprises. We have seen over the years, for example, how mobile data is empowering young people to connect, learn and grow. To be the leader in this space and to be the telecom operator with the highest percentage of customers subscribing to your data and internet services is truly remarkable.

At Airtel, we continue to invest in our network infrastructure to boost speed and quality including the introduction of a second carrier to enrich customers’ experience on the network. With these investments, customers now enjoy speeds up to 42mbps in several locations across the country on compatible devices.

We have also clearly differentiated ourselves from the competition through our ability to innovate ahead of the market to provide undoubtedly the best data and digital experience for customers. With such a rich mix – of innovative products, investment in our network and superior customer experience – customers have responded by making us the data network provider of choice in Ghana”.

Airtel has leveraged its leadership in data and digital innovation to champion digital inclusion in Ghana. The Smartphone Network was the first telecom company in the country to partner with Facebook to provide free access to Facebook and 40 free sites in total – across education, weather, health and news platforms to empower and digitally include thousands of Ghanaians. This bold step, which opened the way for other industry players, has also contributed significantly to Airtel’s growth in mobile data.

The company also introduced market leading innovations such as ‘bundles on Facebook’ which enables customers to purchase data bundles directly on their Facebook pages. This coupled with other breakthrough innovations including dual scratch cards, top-ups via Airtel Money have positioned Airtel Ghana firmly as the industry’s leader in this space.

Airtel’s Data Business Director, Jean Claude Domilongo Bope, attributed the performance in mobile data over the period to the company’s ability to “offer customers better value prepositions”.

He said “Let’s take the current numbers as released by the NCA for example, it simply means that if you take 10 Airtel customers, 6 of them are also data customers. This is unprecedented in the industry where the closest competitor is doing far less than that”.

He continued “Customers want superior products and services, they want better value for their money. We listen to our customers to gain insight and to develop prepositions that provides them with superior offerings. Recently we launched Airtel Flex, Ghana’s biggest and best value for money mobile data bundles that gives customers free access to Facebook, Whatsapp, the entire Google suite, YouTube and many more. In addition to this, customers get 10% cash back for every Flex bundle they purchase. So for instance if a customer purchases a GHC 35 monthly premium bundle, they get free access to all these sites and GHC 3.5 cash back paid directly into their Airtel Money mobile wallets. There’s absolutely no better mobile data bundle offer for customers than this. As we celebrate this milestone, we want to thank all our customers for their patronage and partnership which has and continues to make Airtel the telecom provider of choice in Ghana”.

He concluded “customers can purchase a Flex bundle by simply dialing *125# and selecting option 5”.

Airtel is Ghana’s fastest growing telecommunication network providing communication, connectivity and collaborative solutions to all customers – individuals and enterprises.

The company was recently adjudged Ghana’s best Data and Internet Service Provider at the Ghana ICT and Telecoms Award.