When you’re the biggest telecommunication company in a region, more often than not, you’ll sit pretty and let the smaller companies find their footing, and start things like “data wars”.
Well, this has been the same case with Safaricom, one of Kenya’s leading telecommunication companies. Airtel and Telkom have been very instrumental in making Safaricom reduce data prices over the years.
And in a bid to move a step further from its competitors, Safaricom has now introduced a data plan with no expiry date as it celebrates its 19th birthday in the industry.
While unveiling the new plan, Safaricom said they were beginning a new journey that is in line with their customer-first approach that will see them focus on products and services that meet the needs of all their more than 33 million customers.
The change came just hours after an ICT practitioner took Safaricom, Airtel and Telkom to court over the expiry of data and loss of unused internet bundles.
In his petition, lawyer Adrian Kamotho had sued the telecommunication companies together with industry regulator at the Communications and Multimedia Appeal Tribunal.
He had filed the suit in hopes of getting orders issued to stop the loss of unused data bundles after the expiry date.
“That an order directing the respondents to enable active subscribers to roll over unused data bundles at all times…” read part of the petition.
In June 2019, former Kiambu Governor William Kabogo had contemplated suing the telcos over the same (expiry date for data bundles)
The politician maintained he believed that data bundles should not have an expiry date and if they must have, then they should be renewable.
“We are not saying that we should be compensated for data not used within specified time frames. If it is for their logistical convenience that there must be an expiry date, then all unconsumed data as long it was initially paid for should be renewed and not expire,” stated Kabogo in June.
And as one way of ensuring it evade sanctions and becomes the first company to offer non-expiry bundles, Safaricom in an update released in Google Playstore through its My Safaricom App offered data plans that do not have expiry dates.
Customers can now choose any amount they wish to spend and the app will calculate the data bundle it is worth. This is the same case with customers purchasing using the USSD code.
According to the new plan, data bundles gets cheaper the more one spends more money to purchase. With as low as 1 shilling, one is able to purchase 2MBs with 5GB going for Ksh 1,000.
The new plan is expected to trigger fierce competition from other network service providers who have been enjoying a large number of users in the country.
The plan has already excited most subscribers who have expressed joy over the company’s new decision. This comes in the wake of another glitch that Kenyans on Twitter are calling “Data HEIST” where there was a bug under *544# that allowed customers to purchase data of up to KES. 100,000,000 without having airtime.
The hitch has already been rectified Safaricom.
Ksh50 gets you 175Mbs for the bundles with no expiry from #safaricom while ksh50 gets you 150mbs with an expiry of 24hrs. The catch is on the higher side. The more money you spend on the data with no expiry the lesser the data you get. Yes. We need to start a discussion now. pic.twitter.com/jThKUakAYi
— Lord Abraham Mutai (@ItsMutai) October 23, 2019
#safaricom Thou that sleepeth 😂 thy blessings shallth passeth 😁 pic.twitter.com/YpZyyuMPAv
— Simba Simba (@QuintineSimba) October 23, 2019
Nobody bothered to wake me up during the heist#safaricom pic.twitter.com/exzM7W6b8n
— Musyoka 🇰🇪 (@Musyoka__) October 23, 2019
As far as I'm concerned Kenyans need an award 😀😀😀😀😀
Share widely #SAFARICOM pic.twitter.com/ShteOttcT1
— Screenshot_Collector (@Screenshots159) October 23, 2019