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Safaricom scraps credit on Karibu tariff ahead of review

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Safaricom customer care staff serve clients: The company has scrapped the credit limit on its post-paid tariffs. PHOTO | FILE

Safaricom has scrapped the provision of credit on its post-paid tariffs ahead of plans to revise the airtime bundles under the popular calling service later this month.

The telecommunications firm on March 31 completed the phased elimination of a facility that allowed customers to spend up to Sh2,500 upon exhausting their monthly allocations before the replenishment date.

All customers on the Sh1,000 and Sh2,500 Karibu Post-pay tariffs will now have to make prepayments if they use up their minutes, text messages or Internet bundles before the month ends.

“We started resetting the credit limits for post-paid customers to zero sometime last year and the process came to an end beginning of this month,” a Safaricom customer care representative told the Business Daily, with several others confirming the decision.

Customers on the tariff pay either Sh1,000 or Sh2,500 per month for a mix of talk time and text messages (for use within and outside Safaricom’s network) as well as data bundles.

These resources are replenished on the first day of every month.

Subscribers who exhaust any of the resources beforehand were, until now, entitled to a credit of either Sh1,000 or Sh2,500 extra credit for use before the month ends.

A customer who, for instance, spent Sh350 to buy extra bundles and text messages, would, therefore, receive a bill of Sh1,350 an undefined billing system Safaricom has now scrapped.

“Going forward any post-paid customer who exhausts his resources ahead of the due date will have to make a prepayment to access the service. At no point will customers get bills above their allocations,” said the Safaricom representative.

Safaricom is this month expected to unveil a revised Karibu tariff proposition for its customers, having said the current rates have been financially unsustainable since their introduction in 2011.

Rather than cancel the tariff, Safaricom in January announced it will either increase the cost of each bundle or decrease its size at the current rates to maintain its customers while ensuring profitability.

READ: Safaricom reverses decision to terminate post-pay tariff

This will allow the firm to retain those already subscribed to the tariff and begin taking on new subscribers.

“Termination of the product is not an option; customers will have to be offered the tariff under new terms, which are still being finalised,” a Safaricom official told the Business Daily in an earlier interview.

“The new tariff will be made public in April and will take effect the following month. Those who choose to continue will be migrated.”

The latest industry figures from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) show that Safaricom’s post-paid subscribers grew from 575,727 in September to 702,198 in December, a 22 per cent increase.

Safaricom also has the Advantage Post-pay plan which allows customers to spend as they wish and pay the accrued bill at the end of the month.
The telecom firm also has special post-paid plans for corporate clients.