founded the gambia 2001 sierra leone 2005 democratic republic of the congo 2012 uganda 2014 headquarters banjul the gambia freetown sierra leone kinshasa democratic republic of the congo kampala uganda key people ziad dalloul chairman and ceo zen annous group cco elias arwadi coo elie khalife cfo younes chaaban cto alieu badara mbye ceo the gambia shadi al gerjawi ceo sierra leone houssam jaber cto sierra leone houssam abdallah cfo drc mohammad ghaddar ceo uganda omar khodr managing director drc website www.africell.com http www.africell.gm the gambia http www.africell.sl sierra leone http www.africell.cd d mocratic republic of the congo africell is a holding company with cellular communications companies in the democratic republic of the congo the gambia uganda and sierra leone . the company which was founded by ziad dalloul in 2000 setup its operations in africa in 2001 . it has gone on to become a market leader in sierra leone and the gambia with over 60 % share of active subscribers and over 7 million subscribers in the democratic republic of the congo . in november 2014 the company acquired the under performing operations of french telecom giant orange in uganda and thus taking on a subscriber base of more than 1 000 000 . this led to a 700 % increment in their active subscription to 11 million over a five year period and expects to end the year 2015 and 2016 with more than 12 million and 15 million subscribers respectively . 1 2 africell a subsidiary of the lebanon based lintel group of companies is considered to be one of the fastest growing telecommunications companies on the continent by analysts . contents 1 gambia 2 sierra leone 3 democratic republic of the congo drc 4 uganda 5 references gambia edit africell launched its operation in the gambia in 2001 3 with a mission of making telecommunication accessible to every gambian at the most affordable rates . 4 by the end of 2014 it had acquired 1.3 million active subscribers . 5 africell gambia has held the first positioning in terms of market share since 2006 and has consolidated this positioning since with a large spread . this positioning was done through an aggressive and consistent marketing effort that is well adapted to the country s social settings in a way that africell has become the nation s trend setter . africell gambia has won for two consecutive years 2006 and 2007 the gcci gambia chamber of commerce award for best service provider and is also nominated for 2008 ; that in addition to many other awards including best customer service . 6 sierra leone edit africell expanded its 2g and 3g operations to sierra leone in 2005 . 7 in 2009 africell completed the acquisition of tigo following final regulatory approval . the acquisition and ensuing merger of the two entities further consolidated the company s leading market share of 65 % of the total gsm telephone mkt in sierra leone . 8 9 africell sierra leone has achieved the first position in terms of market share in a record time and facing multinational operators such as indian telecom giant bharti airtel.the secret recipe behind this success was a strategy of aggressive marketing and network roll out . aside from the growth in the subscriber base africell sierra leone major success was in winning the hearts and minds of the people in a record time and to become an inherent part of the sierra leonean society thought a very active social agenda . 10 africell sierra leone has won the following awards 2008 and 2009 awol all works of life 11 2011 telecom company of the year . 12 democratic republic of the congo drc edit africell which calls itself the people s network 13 started its 2g and 3g operations in the drc in november 2012 . 14 15 the network believed to be the country s cheapest cellphone service 16 acquired over 7 million active subscribers by the end of 2014 . 17 the prices for calls and smses charged by africell were deemed too low and thus unacceptable for the market by the autorit de r gulation des postes et t l coms arptc and the authority tried to force africell to increase its prices but the network refused to budge . the low prices charged by the network further led to the termination of interconnection agreements with vodacom airtel tigo drc and orange.this meant that the subcribers of africell were limited to on net calls . however after intense negotiations in march 2015 vodacom and orange reached an agreement with africell that effectively broke the long standing interconnection ban that had been enforced by the arptc and subscribers from africell to be able to make calls to customers of vodacom and orange for the first time in more than two years . 18 19 uganda edit africell entered the uganda telecommunications market in november 2014 after finalizing the acquisition of the orange operations at 12 million . 20 this transaction led to the inheriting of over 1 000 000 subscribers as well as a 2g 3g and 4g network . with plans to obtain a 20 % market share in the next four to five years the lebanon based telecommunications company is lining up a 150 million investment over the next three years to improve the network operations of its newly acquired unit.by upgrading its network the company plans to boost its data business an area where it says it has an edge over its bigger competitors such as mtn and bharti airtel . the new investment would also enable it to attract more voice subscribers so it can reach its target of at least 6 million by 2019 . 21 references edit zekaria simon . in africa a telco disruptor looks for gaps amongst giants . wall stree journal . retrieved 7 april 2015 . bariyo nicholas . africell plans to invest 150 million to upgrade uganda operations . wall street journal . retrieved 7 april 2015 . 2g 3g & 4g subscriptions deployments and infrastructure contracts database q4 2013 press release . africell . africell gambia co. ltd . access gambia . retrieved 7 april 2015 . zekaria simon . in africa a telco disruptor looks for gaps amongst giants . wall street journal . retrieved 7 april 2015 . africell chooses nokia siemens networks to modernize its core network in sierra leone and gambia . nokia networks . retrieved 7 april 2015 . africell launches the first 3g network in sierra leone techmtaa 14 august 2011 africell sierra leone crosses 2 million subscriber mark . itweb africa . retrieved 7 april 2015 . africell completes acquisition of millicom sierra leone . it news africa . retrieved 7 april 2015 . africell chooses nokia siemens networks to modernize its core network in sierra leone and gambia . nokia systems . retrieved 7 april 2014 . awol showers praise on africell . awoko.org 8 january 2009 awol votes africell as the best telecommunications company in sierra leone for 2011 africell drc s star performance makes headlines . biztech africa . retrieved 5 april 2015 . rd congo vente de licences 3g afrique7.com 11 july 2012 africell drc poised to launch 3g before end 2014 . telegeography 29 august 2014 africell drc waits in vain for interconnection . biztech africa . retrieved 5 april 2015 . africell drc set to launch 3g services by end 2014 . telecom paper . africell drc waits in vain for interconnection . biztechafrica.com . retrieved 5 april 2015 . africell drc inks interconnection agreements with orange vodacom . telecomist . retrieved 5 april 2015 . zekaria simon . in africa a telco disruptor looks for gaps amongst giants . wsj d. retrieved 7 april 2014 . bariyo nicholas . africell plans to invest 150 million to upgrade uganda operations . wsj d. retrieved 7 april 2015 . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title africell & oldid 738352786 categories telecommunications companies of africacompanies established in 2000 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to 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