Bharti Airtel plans heavy investment in Nigeria

LAGOS: India's largest phone operator Bharti Airtel said on Tuesday it will invest 600 million dollars in Nigeria's mobile market following a huge recent acquisition deal spanning 15 African nations.

Calling the Nigerian market the biggest in Africa, Bharti Airtel CEO Manoj Kohli said the investment would occur over the next year.

"We have set aside 600 million dollars (475 million euros) for investment in the Nigerian market in the next 12 months," Kohli told reporters. "The sum of 300 million dollars will be invested in the first instance."

He said access in rural areas would be given priority.

The Indian group recently invested 10.5 billion dollars to acquire the operations of Kuwait company Zain in 15 African countries, including Nigeria, as part of a global expansion project.

Zain Nigeria is among the leading telecommunications firms in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country of 150 million people, with a subscriber base of around 20 million.