Celtel Kenya and Celtel Uganda join 21 sister companies under the brand name, Zain... By Edris Kisambira 

Celtel Uganda and Celtel Kenya have rebranded to Zain., effective August 1. The name change in the Zain Group's East Africa operations is in line with the desire of the Kuwaiti-based group to operate under one global brand name.

The Zain Group (formerly MTC) is the majority owner of Celtel, the pan-African mobile phone firm, which it bought in 2005 at a cost of US$3.3 billion from Sudanese businessman Mo Ibrahim and has invested more than US$6 billion in its Africa operations.

Celtel Uganda and Celtel Kenya join the company's 21 sister companies in Africa and the Middle East in adopting the brand name Zain. In February this year, Celtel Nigeria changed name to Zain while the announcement on the Kenya operation was made in September last year.

The latest re-branding exercise for Celtel Uganda and Celtel Kenya comes just three years after the company changed its logo and corporate colours from white and orange to the red and yellow that it is hitherto identified with. The name change is coming with a new logo and new colours including black, purple and green.

The re-brand is expected to create special challenges in the market considering that a lot has been invested into creating the Celtel brand. An advertising blitz is expected to drum the new name and corporate identity in the minds of consumers.

The decision to re-brand Celtel appears to be driven by the fact that MTN, Eitisalat and Vodacom - its major rivals in the Africa Middle East region are all operating under single brand names.

"Zain will bring together all our operations under a single, strong and unique identity," an earlier media report quotes Saad Al Barrak, Zain Group's chief executive officer as saying. "We believe it is the optimal platform upon which we will build a global brand with the ultimate goal of serving our customers better."