UPDATE: Eligibility is based on your history with Safaricom and your credit score. You will also need a KES 1000 deposit.
To participate, customers need to dial *544# and accept the terms and conditions to opt into the service, after which they will receive an SMS approval of their eligibility and the value of the device they can purchase under the service.
Eligibility of the financing plan will be based on customer credit score. The subscriber will need a history with Safaricom network going back at least one year and be between 18-75 years of age.
For more information on Lipa Mdogo Mdogo, customers are encouraged to dial *544# or call the customer care number 100 to get more details.
During Safaricom’s announcement of the 2019/2020 FY financials, the operator reported it had inked a partnership with Google and Teleone to sell ultra-cheap devices to Kenyans.
The move is said to be motivated by Safaricom’s move to popularize 4G adoption, which, as of this writing, is available in all urban centres in Kenya.
The April 2020 announcement reiterated what we have known for a long time: that the majority of Kenyans are using feature phones that run on 2G network.
The carrier makes substantial revenues from data services. It wants to expand that front by ensuring that Kenyans can affordably access smart devices, even if it means that they and pay for them at KES 20 per day.
The program is dubbed Lipa Mdogo Mdogo.
It will go live tomorrow (28 Tuesday, 2020), nearly four months after it was first announced. Safaricom had reported a June launch, but that did not come to be.
Based on its payment model, it is obvious that the main targets are members of low-income households who do not have budgets for a smart device.
It is very likely that the devices will be locked to Safaricom (this has always been the case for some devices sold by the carrier).
Device(s)
At the moment, we have established that the Neon Ray Pro will be up for grabs under the Lipa Mdogo Mdogo program.
Here are some of its specifications:
Display: 5.5 inches
Memory: 16 GB
RAM: 1 GB
Battery: 2500 mAh
4G: Yes
We will update the story with additional specifications from a tomorrow launch event, as well as the payment system and other key details.
Safaricom Neon Ray Pro Specifications and Price in Kenya
One thing to note that these specifications are pedestrian, hence the low daily payments.
In addition, we are certain the device will be equipped with the stripped-down Android Go Edition that is easy on system resources.
Related Read: All-New Devices with Low RAM to Feature Android 11 Go Edition – Google
