Airtel Kenya To Get New 01xx Prefixes Pending Communications Authority Approval

We identify phone numbers between telcos by noting the first 4 numbers. If you’re a Kenyan, it is easy to identify numbers that are between Safaricom, Telkom and Airtel easily. For example ‘0722’ is Safaricom and ‘0733’ is by Airtel and so on. These are called NDCs.

However thanks to the exploding use of phones in this age, these numbers get used up quick. Communications Authority of Kenya keeps allocating new national destination codes (NDCs) to telcos when they get used up and now Airtel is getting new ones.

According to a source, Airtel is getting new NDCs since they have already exhausted their 07xx prefixes. The new ones that will be allocated to Airtel are:

• 0100
• 0101
• 0102

Currently, according to the Communications Authority of Kenya, Airtel has been allocated 0730 to 0739 ,  0750 to 0756 and 0785 to 0789. The new prefixes will accommodate the extra number of subscribers the telco will get in the future.

According to the latest Sector Statistics Report from the Communications Authority of Kenya, Airtel Kenya has a market share of 23.4% which was up 11% compared to the previous quarter. Airtel has a total of 11.56 million subscribers, of which 11.47 million were pre-paid customers and only 88,000 were post paid customers. They recorded the biggest jump in customer numbers compared to other telcos in the Kenyan market.

The new prefixes awarded to Airtel are quite odd since they are not the 07xx prefixes that we are used to with mobile lines in Kenya. The new prefixes are awaiting  Communications of Authority approval so it will be a while till we see SIM cards with these new SIM cards being sold everywhere.