Bharti, Comviva in pact for Africa mobile VAS

Bharti Airtel, a leading global telecommunications company, today signed a deal with Comviva, the global leader in providing mobile solutions, for Bharti's Africa operations. As part of the five-year deal, Comviva will manage all VAS nodes and provide services across Airtel’s 16 operations in Africa.

With the signing of this deal, Airtel Africa becomes the first telecom service operator in Africa to have a managed services agreement for its complete value added services portfolio.

In addition to managing all the VAS nodes, Comviva will also manage the complexities associated with the emergence of multiple technologies, different standards, myriad applications and content. With Managed VAS Services, which will be launched commercially this month, Comviva aims to help grow Airtel’s value added service business in Africa.

Announcing the deal, Manoj Kohli CEO (International) and Joint Managing Director, Airtel Africa, said, “As we expand our operations and service portfolio in Africa, we aim to deliver a broad portfolio of services and a superior experience for our customers. By handing over management of operations to Comviva, we can enhance efficiencies in our operations and bring a closer focus on marketing initiatives that will help drive usage and engagement levels across our customer base. We expect this move to further support brand differentiation by enabling faster time to market, enhanced service performance and greater innovation – all of which will benefit our customers.”