Zain subsidiary Celtel won the award for the Best Telecoms Operator in Africa at the prestigious 2008 Business in Africa Awards held in London recently, beating a host of other operators to clinch the award.

The awards is aimed at highlighting the growth and potential of the business landscape across Africa, while rewarding excellence and world-class best practices across the continent.

The high-profile event was attended by 500 government, business, and media leaders from across Africa, Europe, Asia and the USA.  The evening represented an ideal and unique opportunity to give global visibility to world-class African brands.

Collecting the award for Zain, Tito Alai, chief commercial officer for Zain Group commented “Zain places a huge emphasis on Africa in achieving its 2011 targets of being a top-ten global mobile operator with 110 million customers.”

“This award is an achievement that represents our belief in the African continent and the potential that exists. Together with our partners and customers we are committed to building the African economic dream and developing telecommunications across the continent as no other telecom company has been able to do.”

The awards were co-hosted by the Commonwealth Business Council (CBC) and African Business magazine. Notable VIPs such as Ephraim Inoni, Prime Minister of Cameroon; Bethuel Mosisili, Prime Minister of Lesotho;   Senator Daggash, Nigeria's Minister of National Planning; Neville Isdell, Chairman of Coca Cola; and other prominent diplomats and businessmen presented the Awards to the winners in a festive and memorable African night.-TradeArabia News Service