From January 1, 2022, Kenya mobile consumers will pay less when making phone calls. This follows a review of mobile termination rates and fixed termination rates by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA).
According to a statement from the CA, the rates will be capped at KES 0.12 per minute and will go live on the stated date.
For context, when you call someone who is on a different network, that operator charges your telco for connecting and ‘terminating’ the call.
Put differently, termination rates are basically wholesale tariffs levied by the telco of a user receiving a phone call to the operator of the caller’s network.
As part of the cost of a call between customers of different carriers, termination rates are part of your phone bill and are paid by consumers.
As stated by the CA, termination rates have been adjusted to KES 0.12 per minute and applied by both fixed and mobile operators for connecting calls on their networks.
Before this change, telecom companies are currently implementing termination rates for both fixed and mobile operators at KES 0.99 per minute.
“The revised interconnection rate is projected to have a positive outcome for both the consumers and operators. At the retail level, consumers will now enjoy access to a variety of affordable services across networks, and at a wholesale level, operators will have more price flexibility when developing innovative and affordable products,” reads a statement from the CA.