Zuku is the leading fiber to the home provider in Kenya has increased the cost of their internet products. The ISP is facing stiff competition from other players who want their sweet market share, and a price increase just heaps onto their challenge acquiring and keeping customers.
The Finance Act 2018 brought about new changes to how services and goods are taxed and this includes Internet services. They increased the excise duty to 15% up from 10% and this also applies to fiber services.
Recently, Safaricom announced their new revisions on their fiber offerings which meant that the various packages have a price jump, where the highest one is as much as 1500.
Zuku also reviewed their Fiber pricing and this are their new rates:
| Service | Old Price | New Price |
|---|---|---|
| 5Mbps | 2199 | 2499 |
| 10Mbps | 3499 | 3999 |
| 30Mbps | 4999 | 5299 |
| 50Mbps | 6199 | 6799 |
| 100Mbps | 9999 | 11299 |
| 250Mbps | 19999 | 22499 |
The rates have gone up thanks to the excise duty and the VAT tax imposed on the subscription fee. This breakdown is shown quite well in the tweet below, where Zuku explains to a customer of the tax breakdown on the new changes.
Dear Customer. Following publication of Finance Act 2018 on 21-Sep-18; 15% Excise Duty has been introduced on internet data. Please note we have effected the same. Your AC….. package price is Kshs.2499 inclusive of Excise Duty Kshs.281 & VAT Kshs.345; due date 19-Oct-18
— paul (@wafkartel) October 17, 2018
Also from the table, you can see that it costs 2499 for the 5Mbps Internet only bundle but from this tweet, it is 2199. Zuku says that this offer is only for first time clients
Well, Zuku is having a completely different strategy to this, as they revealed that they will absorb the excise duty for your fiber packages. If you are a new customer, this will include a free installation.
However, there is a condition to this seemingly amazing deal. Although Zuku says they will absolve you from paying excise duty, this will not go forever. According to the company, this will only be valid until the end of the year, so this sounds like a great opportunity to get a Zuku subscription if you are an aspiring customer.
