Price wars threaten survival of Kenya’s mobile phone industry

In March 2010, Sunil Bharti Mittal sealed a deal that earned him a place on the list of India’s business stars, among them Ratan Tata of the House of Tata, the Ambani brothers, and Lakhmi Mittal of steel giant Acelor Mittal. All the men had sealed transformative merger and acquisition deals that symbolised India’s coming of age in a new world order.

Backed by a $10 billion loan arranged by his bankers at Standard Chartered and Barclays Capital, Sunil became the third owner of Zain’s mobile phone business in 14 African markets.