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Safaricom launches new tariffs as it seeks to stay ahead of rivals

platinum

Safaricom Limited's director for consumer business Sylvia Mulinge during the launch Platinum tariff plan, which targets high value customers. PHOTO| SALATON NJAU | NMG

Safaricom #ticker:SCOM on Friday launched a new post-paid tariff plan amid heated competition among the telecoms players increasing targeting the low-end market

The product dubbed Platinum Plus Platinum cost between Sh2,000 and Sh10,000 a month for a pre-set amount of talk time, unlimited SMS and preset data usage.

The two tariffs consist of eight choices whose monthly cost is Sh2,000, Sh3,000 Sh5,000 and Sh10,000.

In exchange, customers will receive between 200 and 3,000 talk-time minutes, unlimited SMSs and five to 30 gigabytes of data.

Customers will also access discounted purchases at brands such as Shell, eatout.com and Ticketsasa.

Growth engines

Data is one of the engines for growth of Safaricom's revenues but rivals Airtel Kenya, Telkom Kenya, and lately Jamii Telecom Limited (JTL) have sought to unveil cheaper or competitive data packages.

“Platinum is targeted at the discerning professionals, who form 17 per cent of the total Safaricom customer base and are known to spend a lot of time online.

"That’s why data is a big focus with this new offering, because these subscribers are looking for plans that accommodate their usage and fit into their lifestyles,” said Safaricom's director for consumer business, Sylvia Mulinge, during the product’s launch.

Safaricom currently offers three personal post-pay plans -- Advantage Postpay, and the two Karibu tariff plans: PostPay 1000 and Postpay 2500.

Customers on the tariff currently 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.

'Flexibility'

Ms Mulinge said the packages only available on the MySafaricom App will provide some “additional flexibility” for its subscribers.

Jamii Telecom Limited last December unveiled 1GB data bundles costing Sh50 (valid for one day), 70GB at Sh3,000 (valid for a month) and 210 GB at Sh6,000 for a month as well.

Airtel Kenya offers 1GB 24-hour data bundle costing subscribers Sh99, 6GB costing Sh1,000 (valid for a month) and 24GB which goes for Sh3,000 (valid for a month).

Subscriber base

Telkom Kenya increased its subscriber base by about 540,000 in just three months after it unveiled its new brand mid last year. Telkom Kenya offers 1.5GB for Sh499 and 100GB for Sh8,999.

Safaricom’s Karibu post-paid tariff currently has two price plans.

For Sh1,000 per month, a subscriber gets 900 minutes talk time for on-net calls (within the Safaricom network), 100 minutes for off-net calls as well as 100 megabytes of data and 100 on-net SMSes.

For Sh2,500 a month, subscribers get 2,200 minutes for Safaricom to Safaricom calls, 300 minutes to rival networks, 250 megabytes of data and 250 on-net text messages.