Airtel Ghana, the fastest growing telecoms company in Ghana was adjudged the “Telecoms Company of the Year 2010” at the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG) Awards, in recognition of its effort at transforming the telecom industry in Ghana. This recognition comes less than a year after Bharti Airtel took over the operations of Zain in Ghana, and positioned Airtel as a force to watch, especially in its leading role in product innovation, affordability, customer service and community development. A statement from Airtel Ghana said “this award also follows after Airtel’s recognition by Mobile World Magazine a UK-based magazine covering the telecoms sector in Africa, as the Customer Care Company and Marketing Campaign of the year 2010. The Managing Director of Airtel was also adjudged the CEO of the Year by the same company.” The citation which accompanied the plaque read: ‘For ingenuity and continuous innovation in the areas of market insights, brand equity management, customer care programmes, managing marketing effectiveness, managing marketing people and your Corporate Social Responsibility programmes in your sector, you continue to establish yourself as a new force to contend with.” The citation continued, “Your consistency in value proposition, campaigns and launch of appealing products and services informed by customer research have become your hallmark.” It also mentioned Airtel’s wide range of innovative product offering, delivered from advanced set of competencies in the mix of technical people and processes and Airtel’s partnership with Blue Chip organizations to provide first class ICT services to businesses and customers, as another reason why Airtel deserved the award. The Managing Director of Airtel Ghana, Philip Sowah said “Innovation drives economic growth and Airtel has a track record that is unrivalled in mobile telecommunications”. He added that the Airtel Brand was already the favorite of more than 228 million customers worldwide, and offered a consistent and familiar customer experience wherever Airtel customers go the world over. “We aspire to be the most loved brand in the daily lives of Ghanaians and this award is an indication that we are getting there”, he stated. The Chief Operating Officer of Airtel Ghana, Mrinal Roy, who represented Airtel Ghana at the awards programme, also noted that the recognition as the telecoms company of the year serves as a motivation for Airtel to do more for their customers and the communities they operate in. “We are humbled by this recognition and thrilled that the customer is identifying with the brand and is endorsing our offers. We dedicate this award to our customers and thank them for their continued patronage”, he added. Airtel Ghana entered the telecoms sector in Ghana with the promise that all customers could feel free on their network to enjoy the best of products, services and customer care at affordable rates. This promise was carried out immediately with the introduction of a simple, straight forward and transparent flat tariff of 8Gp across all networks, which was immediately embraced by all Ghanaians because of its clarity and simplicity of execution. Airtel Ghana has also in the past few months introduced various innovative products and services like the 2-SIM, which offers two SIM cards with consecutive numbers set in one standard size with a 50% discount on calls between the paired numbers for life, a first in Africa; a unique texting offer called Magic SMs that offers 100 free SMSs on-net after charging the first two SMS at regular rates.