Kenya:Safaricom reduces internet charges by 42 per cent

By Samuel Ouma | @journalist_27

Kenya’s leading telecommunication provider Safaricom has made some significant changes in its internet prices.

The South Africa-based shareholder Vodacom has announced it has cut its data prices by 42 per cent due to stiff competition and regulatory pressures.

The new changes aim at countering affordable offers from Airtel Kenya and Telkom Kenya. It is alleged a number of data users had ditched the leading telco to either Airtel or Telkom because of their cheap offers.

The firm’s subscribers are set to spend lesser amounts in buying more megabytes as daily, weekly and monthly packages witness more cuts.

“In the context of our commitment to drive digital inclusion and given the tough consumer environment, we recognize the imperative to further lower data prices in some of our markets, while ensuring that this does not compromise our ability to make the investments in network and IT infrastructure needed to broaden service delivery and maintain high-quality offerings,” read Vodacom report.

The changes also applied to other Vodacom associates but at different rates. In the review, data charges in Democratic Republic of Congo were lowered by 29.2 per cent, Lesotho 28.9 per cent, South Africa 23.3 per cent and Tanzania 13.8 per cent.

These changes come few months after the former Kenyan Governor William Kabogo threatened to sue the company over expiry of internet bundles.

He said he had contacted lawyers to draft a plan with an aim of delivering consumers from economic slavery saying data bundles should not expire and if they must have, then they must be renewed.

Currently, subscribers are allowed to renew their unused data upon top up.