Kenya’s top 3 mobile phone operators have, for a long time, been involved in price wars especially for data bundle purchases. The tussle is still on, with each carrier launching a new data product to appeal to more users and hopefully, gain a competitive edge. To put it bluntly, Safaricom has always won for obvious reasons (it has the numbers, resources and most importantly, a robust network and extensive coverage, as well as extra products such as M-PESA that is an ecosystem on its own, meaning once you are in, you cannot leave unless you pick a competitor’s line while keeping Safaricom as your primary SIM).
Safaricom’s offers are, unsurprisingly, priced higher than its rivals. However, the telco has been pushed to revise the pricing of its offers albeit slightly, and launch new ones to compete with what other players are doing. It is for this reason that BLAZE, FLEX and Tunukiwa saw the light of day. I often use Tunukiwa because there is nothing like it. Depending on your top up activities, you can, for instance, get as much as 120 minutes for Kes 30 and so forth.
With that in mind, I discovered the AMAZING DEAL while purchasing Daily Bundles. I say ‘discover’ because the telco has not explicitly announced or marketed this awesome deal to the masses unless you hit those USSD codes and make a finding for yourself.
Access
Save for the daily 1 GB bundle that was introduced a couple of days ago, the AMAZING DEAL are only visible on the Daily Bundle via *544# – but after you have selected the Kes 50, Kes 30, Kes 20 or Kes 10 option.
Only two bundles are available: 500 MB and 500 SMS for Kes 70 and 350 MB and 350 SMS for Kes 50.
Both have an expiry window of 24 hours.
Interestingly, a Daily 50 option includes 150 MB and 150 SMS. The same amount can bump up the bundle by an extra 200 MB, which makes the former a bad purchase.
You will also notice that Safaricom is pulling an upselling technique here: if you pick Daily 50, you will only see the 500 MB offer at Kes 70. If you pick Daily 20 or 30, you will see the 350 MB offer at Kes 50. It is a wittingly enticing tactic (worked on me), but a good deal nonetheless.
Anyway, the 500 MB option is actually good for the groups that do not exhaust Daily 1 GB for Kes 99. The same groups can also save a healthy Kes 29.
