Airtel Africa CEO Commissions Two Premium Experience Centres in Lagos
Airtel Africa Group Chief Executive Officer, Sunil Taldar, has commissioned two new premium experience centres in Lagos as the telecommunications company accelerates the expansion of its customer service network across Nigeria.
The newly commissioned facilities, located at DAT Mall, Sangotedo, and Marina, Lagos, are part of Airtel Nigeria’s plan to establish 500 premium experience centres nationwide, with more than 350 already rolled out across the country.
The expansion is aimed at bringing Airtel’s products and customer support services closer to subscribers while providing convenient access to the company’s expanding portfolio of connectivity, broadband and digital solutions.
Speaking during the commissioning of the two centres, Taldar said the investment demonstrated Airtel Africa’s confidence in Nigeria and its long-term commitment to the country’s telecommunications sector and wider economy.
He described Nigeria as one of the most important markets in Airtel Africa’s operations, stressing that the company would continue to invest in the country because of its confidence in its people, economy and growth potential.
“Nigeria is one of the most important markets in the Airtel Africa portfolio, and our commitment to this country is long term. We continue to invest because we believe in the potential of Nigeria, its people and its economy,” he said.
Taldar said the new experience centres were part of Airtel’s broader investment programme designed to make quality telecommunications products and services more accessible to customers.
“These experience centres are part of that investment, giving customers easier access to the quality products and services that connectivity increasingly makes possible,” he added.
The premium experience centres are designed to serve as comprehensive customer touchpoints where subscribers and businesses can access a wide range of Airtel services.
The facilities provide customers with access to consumer and enterprise products, including Outdoor Units (ODU), Fibre and Home Broadband solutions. They also offer services such as subscriptions, enquiries, after-sales support and resolution of service-related complaints.
The expansion comes against the backdrop of Airtel Nigeria’s wider investment in its physical and digital customer service infrastructure.
The company currently operates more than 9,000 exclusive shops spread across every local government area in Nigeria, in addition to more than 350 premium experience centres and over 73,000 retail outlets in major towns and cities across the country.
According to the Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Nigeria, Dinesh Balsingh, the premium experience centres are intended to complement the company’s investments in network capacity and technology by improving the way customers interact with the telecommunications provider.
Balsingh said Airtel’s definition of quality service went beyond network performance to include the entire customer journey, from purchasing products and subscribing to services to receiving technical assistance and resolving complaints.
“Quality of service extends across the entire customer journey. It includes the strength and reliability of the network, the quality of our products and the ease with which customers can access support,” he said.
He explained that the new centres brought the various elements of Airtel’s customer service proposition together in a more convenient environment.
“These premium experience centres bring those elements together in a more convenient environment and give our customers a better way to engage with Airtel,” Balsingh added.
He noted that the expansion also reflected changes in customers’ connectivity requirements, with Airtel increasingly moving beyond traditional mobile telecommunications services to offer broadband and other digital connectivity solutions.
According to him, products such as Fibre, ODU and enterprise connectivity solutions have become increasingly important as individuals, households and businesses require faster and more reliable internet access.
The new centres have also been designed to facilitate faster customer interactions and reduce the inconvenience associated with accessing routine telecommunications services.
Airtel said its premium retail model was partly developed in response to feedback from customers who wanted easier access to its services and support.
The company said the feedback informed the design and expansion of the new centres, with accessibility, speed and convenience forming key components of the initiative.
The latest commissioning follows Airtel Nigeria’s nationwide retail expansion announced earlier this month, when the company disclosed that more than 350 of the 500 premium experience centres planned for the year had already been established.
The physical expansion forms part of a broader customer experience strategy that also includes digital self-service platforms, artificial intelligence-powered customer support, nationwide customer forums and continued investment in network expansion.
The company is seeking to combine its growing physical retail presence with digital channels to enable customers to access support and manage their services through multiple platforms.
The commissioning of the Sangotedo and Marina facilities therefore marks another stage in Airtel Nigeria’s efforts to strengthen its direct relationship with customers while expanding access to its growing range of telecommunications and digital services.
With the two new centres, Airtel Nigeria is positioning its physical customer service network as a key complement to its ongoing investments in network infrastructure and technology, as competition in Nigeria’s telecommunications market increasingly extends beyond voice and mobile data services to broadband, enterprise connectivity and digital solutions.
