Last month, telecommunication operator Bharti Airtel Group unveiled a new Managing Director for their subsidiary Airtel Uganda, Mr. Manoj Murali replacing V.G. Somasekhar who has been with the telco since 2010. Somasekhar would be moving to India, where he continues to be associated with the Bharti Airtel Group.
Somasekhar was thankful for the opportunity to serve as Airtel Uganda Managing Director, and contributing to the growth of the telecommunication sector and its impact on the socio-economic development of Uganda.
He emphasized being grateful for the opportunity given to him on being part of the Airtel Uganda team twice and the support he received from all stakeholders, Shareholders, Board, Management and Staff of Airtel Uganda.
In his farewell message, V.G Somasekhar says;
“Airtel Uganda has evolved and grown rapidly due to the enabling environment created by the Government of Uganda, ensuring peace and stability with consistent policy and regulatory frameworks.
Today, Airtel has invested ahead of the curve and expanded the full telecom play of Voice, Data, Airtel Money, Enterprise, Home Broadband and Digital to serve Uganda with the most innovative offerings as well as readying Uganda for the 4th Industrial Revolution.
Airtel Uganda has a strong track record of compliance to regulation, respect to local laws, giving back to the community and a brand that is winning the hearts and minds of Ugandans. With the progressive new National Telecom License and the National Payments Systems Act, Uganda is on an accelerated roadmap towards achieving the digital and financial inclusion agenda as highlighted in the Uganda Vision 2040.
Airtel Uganda is the No.1 OpCo in Airtel Africa outside Nigeria, across all business parameters of strong customer base, growing revenues, highest profitability, an admired and respected brand by all stakeholders. Reflecting on the transformation of Airtel Uganda since acquisition from lain in 2010, some key milestones have been; turning an EBITDA negative business to positive and the successful in country consolidation through the seamless merger of Airtel and Warid.
I thank our customers for the trust and confidence. I am grateful for the dedication and commitment of our staff. I appreciate the role played by our partners in ensuring Network and IT platforms uptime and deepening distribution and float availability as well as partners in our value chain. The character of Airtel was recently tested during the stringent lockdown in Uganda however the strong recovery in business, building networks and serving customers and widening distribution in the middle of the pandemic is proof of a resilient business.
A strong foundation has been built to scale up, along with the new National Telecom License and the National Payments Systems Act. Airtel Uganda is poised to achieve market leadership, full geographical network coverage, listing on the Uganda stock exchange, leading digital transformation and portfolio of mobile financial services to deepen both digital and financial inclusion. I have no doubt that the leadership of Manoj Murali will continue to grow Airtel Uganda from strength to strength.
While I begin the next phase of my journey, the overwhelming emotion is one of gratitude for the support received. I am privileged to be part of this exciting journey of Airtel Africa twice. Having spent most of the last decade on this continent, I will miss the energy and laughter, the warmth and hospitality, humanness and hope in adversity, the smile and cheer of Africans and Ugandans in particular.”
