Safaricom has quietly halved the resources for some of its popular mobile data bundle packages, effectively doubling the cost of data for customers.
Kenya’s largest telco’s subscribers have seen the mobile data allocations slashed since the weekend, including the ‘No Expiry’ packages, which offer indefinitely valid bundles at fixed or customisable rates, depending on one’s budget.
Under the plan, subscribers previously got 255 MBs of non-expiring data with Sh51. However, the allocation has been revised downwards by more than 50 percent to 102MBs.
Customers also noticed that Sh100 now gets them 200MBs, with 500MB costing Sh250.
Safaricom declined to comment on the matter officially as email queries to the telco were not responded to.
Telcom companies globally have been adopting a dynamic pricing model for services like mobile data and call minutes, where costs are adjusted in real-time based on factors like demand, consumer usage patterns and network congestion.
The model, based on data and in some cases AI, is a departure from the traditional models where shilling-per-minute or shilling-per-MB rates are fixed across all customers.
On Sunday, Safaricom alluded to an “issue affecting the awarding of data bundles” in response to a query from a customer who reported getting only 600MB for Sh300.
Resolution underway
“We are aware of the issue affecting the awarding of data bundles and a resolution is underway. Apologies for the inconvenience,” the company said in a post on X.
The company’s other packages, such as the ‘All-In-One’ plans for data, minutes, and SMS, as well as its hourly offerings, appeared unchanged as of Wednesday.
Safaricom’s mobile data and fixed internet businesses have emerged as key sales drivers alongside its mobile financial service M-Pesa, as the telco diversifies from the saturated voice and SMS business to stay ahead of rivals like Airtel.
As per its 2026 half-year financials, the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE)-listed company’s revenue from mobile data in the six months to September rose 18.2 percent to Sh44.4 billion.
Safaricom has a leading market share in both mobile and fixed internet services in Kenya, holding a dominant 62.8 percent in mobile broadband and 34.3 percent in fixed internet as of June 2025, according to the Communications Authority of Kenya.
Airtel is its main competitor in the mobile broadband sector. A comparison of some of the two telcos’ popular bundles shows that Airtel offers 1GB valid for one hour for Sh15, while Safaricom’s 1.2GB bundle with the same validity period goes for Sh20.
For the 24-hour bundles, Sh20 gets one 200MBs on Safaricom, while a similar offering for Airtel gets one 300MBs. For Sh3,000, Airtel offers a 50GB monthly bundle, while Safaricom has a 25GB monthly bundle for Sh2,000.
Safaricom has been aggressively fighting for a larger share in the data business, ramping it up with more investments in 4G and 5G networks to offset a decline in mobile calls.
In the six months to September, the voice business recorded a 0.5 percent decline in revenues to Sh41 billion, marking a big shift as mobile data for the first time overtook sales from calls.
This was partly due to saturation and rival online texting and calling platforms like WhatsApp.
