Airtel’s single tariff nets one million Internet customers

What you need to know:

The UnlimiNET offers talktime and SMS to any network in Kenya for as low as Sh50.
It also enables Airtel’s pre-paid customers to enjoy 24 hours, 20 free minutes voice calls to any network, and 100 free SMSs to any network and 100MB data daily.

Airtel’s single (bundled) tariff for its voice, data, and SMS services which was launched in February has helped to lift the number of subscribers to its mobile Internet by more than one million in three months to March, the latest data by the industry regulator shows.

The bundled bill plan dubbed “UnlimiNET tariff” has seen Airtel grow its mobile Internet market share to 18.5 per cent from 14.6 per cent.

Airtel’s SMS traffic volume grew by 2.5 percentage points to stand at 6.9 per cent of the market, with 452 million SMS sent during the quarter up from 324 million messages registered during the last quarter.

During the period under review, Safaricom mobile Internet’s market share dropped sharply to 65 per cent from 72.1 per cent compared to the previous quarter, despite registering 400,000 new subscribers during the period.

Telkom Kenya’s Orange also lost its market share in this segment to 13 per cent from 13.3 per cent in the previous quarter, despite signing up 300,000 new subscribers.

“This growth may be attributed to the innovative UnlimiNET product that champions Kenyans by ensuring that they are always connected and have the ability to call all networks and remain connected with friends and family on social media platforms and profession networks on the Internet even after they run out of data bundles,” Airtel Kenya CEO Adil El Youssefi said in a statement.

READ: Airtel spends Sh2.5bn on high-speed Internet upgrade

The UnlimiNET offers talktime and SMS to any network in Kenya for as low as Sh50. It also enables Airtel’s pre-paid customers to enjoy 24 hours, 20 free minutes voice calls to any network, and 100 free SMSs to any network and 100MB data daily.

Customers on this bundle also get full speed access to Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram and Gmail within the day of subscription even after exhausting their 100MBs of data.

Mr Adil also added that Airtel’s growth may be attributed to its 3G network upgrade in major towns such as Mombasa and Kitale in January, in which it deployed the latest wireless technologies that significantly enhanced network signals, data speeds and improved voice quality for its customers.

The report indicates Airtel is the only operator that has shown consistent growth in SMS traffic over the last four quarters under review.