Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph leads the telco’s senior managers in celebrations to mark its 19th anniversary. The company used the occasion at Sarit Centre to announce new call and data tariffs. Customers now have the option of buying graduated bundles either with or without the expiry option. PHOTO | DIANA NGILA | NMG
The telecoms operator said yesterday that subscribers opting for the no-expiry tariff plan will get an extra 50 percent airtime, an offer that will considerably lower the cost of talk time.
The changes will cost subscribers Sh2.86 for a minute of talk time across all networks, down from Sh4.30 a minute, reflecting a 33 percent drop.
The new plan gives subscribers the option of buying bundles that have no expiry dates, saving users from losses that have seen the three mobile phone operators sued.
The change comes in a period when Airtel has sustained an aggressive hunt for subscribers, cutting Safaricom’s market share to 56.8 percent in June from 79.6 percent in June 2017.
Safaricom has introduced a new voice and data tariff that will cut peak time call costs by a third - or Sh1.44 a minute - and also give subscribers a chance to buy internet bundles without expiry date in changes aimed at curbing rival Airtel’s market share growth.
The telecoms operator said Wednesday that subscribers opting for the no-expiry tariff plan will get an extra 50 percent airtime, an offer that will considerably lower the cost of talk time.
The changes will cost subscribers Sh2.86 for a minute of talk time across all networks, down from Sh4.30 a minute, reflecting a 33 percent drop.
The new plan gives subscribers the option of buying bundles that have no expiry dates, saving users from losses that have seen the three mobile phone operators sued.
The change comes in a period when Airtel has sustained an aggressive hunt for subscribers, cutting Safaricom’s market share to 56.8 percent in June from 79.6 percent in June 2017.
Acting CEO Michael Joseph said the changes will counter competition and defend its market share in the face of the fight for subscribers.
“Our customers have indicated to us that they think our voice calls are too expensive so we had to find a way of making our calls cheaper. The advent of WhatsApp and internet calling obviously has made voice call costs to start declining and we have to counter that,” said Mr Joseph.
The tariff that comes with 50 percent additional talk time has limitations as subscribers cannot make international calls, access the internet or share the airtime with other subscribers in what is commonly referred to as sambaza service.
Safaricom has an off-peak call tariff that charges Sh2 a minute for calls between 10pm and 6am.
Despite the drop, Airtel call costs are still lower compared to the new Safaricom rates. Airtel charges Sh2 a minute to make calls to other networks and offers a daily charge of Sh10 for 100 minutes of on-net calls, costing the call at Sh0.10 a minute for the period.
Safaricom has also reviewed the cost of internet bundles under the non-expiry tariff that will see subscribers buying smaller units get more data, lowering the cost per unit. However, the new plan will not offer free WhatsApp.
High spenders will get less data bundles compared to those on tariffs that expire. For instance Sh2,000 will earn subscribers 15 gigabytes (GB) on the 30-day expiry tariff and 10GB on the new tariff.
“We expect that over time, we will see increase in revenue as customers buy more data and as we also get customers from other networks. But initially there may be revenue dilution,” said Mr Joseph in reference to the cheaper data.
Data revenue grew 6.4 percent to Sh38.69 billion in the year to March, being 16.1 percent of the telco’s overall revenue. Revenue per megabyte dropped from Sh0.42 to Sh0.24 during this period.
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