Airtel Announces Partnership With Microsoft, TDAfrica For SMEs

Telecom service provider Airtel Nigeria has announced a collaboration with Microsoft and TD African to introduce Smartbox office internet bundles.

Ogo Ofomata, Director of Business at Airtel, said in a statement released in Lagos that the relationship was specifically created to strengthen and support Nigeria's Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

According to Ofomata, the Airtel Office Internet Smartbox packages gave SMEs unrestricted access to dependable, continuous Internet connectivity, reasonable data rates, and free business domains.

Other advantages, according to him, include Microsoft 365 licences, unmatched Internet speed, and free data.

He said the Smartbox also comes with a guaranteed minimum speed of 40 Mbps and can accommodate 32 connected devices with a facility to restrict access to select websites.

‘’With Airtel Office Internet Smartbox offering, we are providing entrepreneurs, founders, and SME owners the most important tool/resource they need to build agile and performing teams, scale their businesses as well as actualise all their goals.

‘’It is our belief that this offering will help transform the SME landscape in Nigeria.

‘’TD Africa, Microsoft’s accredited distribution partners will work with Airtel to ensure flawless implementation of the Smartbox package to consumers.

“The partnership will leverage the considerable reach of TD Africa and its massive database of channel partners to take the cutting-edge internet bundles across the nooks and crannies of Nigeria,’’ she said.

On the other hand, Ofomata praised Microsoft and TD Africa for working with Airtel to create a full value package.

She claims that the product will help small- and medium-sized business owners increase their output, profits, and success while providing value to their stakeholders.

The relationship, according to Gerald Maithya, Startups and SME Lead, Africa Transformation Office, would help Microsoft's Africa Transformation Office pursue its objective of developing digital assets and capabilities in African SMEs.

The empowerment of SMEs through access to product bundles, tools, and resources, according to Maithya, will have a good effect on wealth creation, employment, and economic growth on the continent.

He disclosed that users could share files with 1TB of Cloud Storage per user using the Office Internet Smartbox.

He said that the user could utilise the web and mobile versions of office programmes like Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, among others, and organise online meetings and video conversations for up to 300 people.

In addition, he claimed, using the Airtel Office Internet Smartbox Bundle came with three complementary Microsoft 365 Basic Licenses, a free business domain good for a year, and 240GB of complimentary data good for 60 days.

Upon the expiration of the premium bundle, according to Maithya, the deal included an additional 10GB daily.