Safaricom Increases Voice, Data, SMS Cost Following Finance Law

Safaricom has formally announced that they have reviewed their prices for various services they offer thanks to the recently passed Finance Act of 2018.

In the Finance Act 2018, excise duty tax applicable on voice, SMS and Data services was increased to 15% from 10% and this is on top of the VAT applicable on this mobile services which is at 16%.

Thanks to this new change, Safaricom has announced that from midnight tonight, the 18th of October, the cost of voice calls will increase by 30 cents and SMS by 10 cents.

Safaricom also says that they have reviewed their prices for mobile data bundles as well as Fiber-To-The-Building (FTTB) and Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH) thanks to the new 15% excise duty tax on Internet services. The company says that this new tariff guide has been filed with the Communications Authority of Kenya as required by law.

“We are aware of and regret the impact these additional taxes on our customers,” the company said in the release. “It is our sincere hope that these changes will not affect the remarkable gains we have made in mobile phone and Internet penetration in Kenya over the last two decades.”

Safaricom is the largest telecoms network in the country with a market share of over 67% as per the latest Communications Authority of Kenya statistics. Kenyans will definitely feel the punch, especially the ones with the fiber connections to their houses and businesses since a 15% of such a big amount is quite something. Safaricom Fiber has grown quite well and we will have to see whether this change will affect its growth when we see the next Communications Authority of Kenya statistics.