The New Delhi-based telco has an African operations hub in Nairobi, Kenya, and has already invested more than $1 billion in network infrastructure in DR Congo. The country is the second biggest nation in Africa by area, with a population of 71 million people.

The announcement of new investment capital going into the DR Congo operation was made by the Airtel DR Congo Managing Director, Antoine Pamboro.

During a tour of the telco's operations in and around Kinshasa, the capital, DR Congo Telecom and ICT MInister Tryphon Kin-Kiey Mulumba said that the government will soon open up licensing for 3G networks and complete work on an fiber-optic landing station, according to a press release.

Airtel is the biggest mobile operator in the country, competing with Vodacom Congo, Millicom (Tigo) and Congo Chine Telecom (CCT), in which OCPT, the state telco, holds a 49 percent stake. Airtel has also expressed willingness to take up a 25 percent participation of the company and manage the optical fiber network in the country.

Following a 30-year dictatorship between 1967 and 1997, the DR Congo (formerly Zaire) went through two wars and is still seeing violent conflicts in the eastern part of the country. As a result of political instability, the national telecom system is one of the least developed in the region. Rural areas, where almost 70 percent of the population lives, are virtually devoid of telephone or Internet service.