The talk about Safaricom mobile data being exhausted fast or costing more than the competition has been discussed widely. To be honest, there is a lot that goes into mobile data pricing, and there are key business decisions that have to be made based on how much a telco has invested into bringing its customers the best value and experience. It is also an open secret that Safaricom is leading in this segment bearing in mind it has pumped billions into expanding its network infrastructure. To date, there is no other telco that has achieved what Safaricom has done in ensuring that customers have consistent mobile internet access wherever they are. This is mostly true, and I can give you an example where I have traversed the country and was still able to get a 4G signal. That never used to happen in previous years, and you can’t have such an experience using other networks.
Some issues that have also been brought up is the manner the bundle system by Safaricom is incomprehensible to some. There are many data products ranging from daily data to monthly, and Tunukiwa bundles that are different for everybody based on how they use their phones. It is an issue that Safaricom has listened to, so to say, because the majority of data products now are under the 544 USSD menu, save for Tunukiwa that is accessed from 444. Still, customers can even have a more friendly interface if they choose to use the mySafaricom app that has the products just a few clicks away.
All these issues come to light because Safaricom has the largest market share in Kenya at a little over 64 percent. There is also a reason for that growth, and that is simple: Kenyans get consistently good network on Safaricom. However, the pricing bit is, to them, a little high than what the competition offers, and even when they purchase data nuggets, they do not last as long. Extended data usage, to be honest, is an inaccurate metric when compared to other networks because of their ‘slow’ speeds, so to speak. When you have a faster connection, you basically have an incentive to do more on your phone, and our devices have a lot of background activities that use data as well. Still, there are way you can put a stop to excessive data usage, and you can track usage patterns using your mysafaricom app using its transparency tool.
Safaricom Mobile Data: How to Best Manage and Track Usage
That aside, Safaricom has been listening to customer queries and complaints, and has made some adjustments about its data bundles.
The development means that you can now get more done with the same amount of money for double the bundles. Yes, that’s right, double the bundles, but for some plans.
Here is how the new pricing and data bundle allocation model looks like:
Here Price Points
| Price | Current MBs | New MBs |
| Daily 20 | 50 | 100 |
| Daily 50 | 150 | 300 |
| Weekly 99 | 350 | 500 |
| Monthly 1000 | 5 GB | 7 GB |
Daily Bundles
| Price | Current | New |
| 5 | 7 MB + 7 SMS | 10 MB + 7 SMS |
| 10 | 15 MB + 15 SMS | 35 MB + 15 SMS |
| 20 | 50 MB + 50 SMS + Free WA | 100 MB + 50 SMS + Free WA |
| 50 | 150 + 150 SMS + Free WA | 300 + 150 SMS + Free WA |
| 99 | 500 MB + 500 SMS + Free WA | 750 MB + 500 SMS + Free WA |
Weekly Bundles
| Price | Current | New |
| 50 | 100 MB | 200 MB |
| 99 | 350 MB + Free WA | 500 MB + Free WA |
| 250 | 1 GB + Free WA | 1.5 GB + Free WA |
| 500 | 3 GB + Free WA | 3.5 GB + Free WA |
Monthly Bundles
| Price | Current | New |
| 250 | 350 MB | 1 GB |
| 500 | 2 GB + Free WA | 2.5 GB + Free WA |
| 1000 | 5 GB + Free WA | 7 GB + Free WA |
| 2000 | 15 GB + Free WA | 20 GB + Free WA |
| 3000 | 25 GB + Free WA | 40 GB + Free WA |
All In One Bundles
| Price | Current | New |
| 550 | 1.5GB + 100Mins + 500SMS + Free WA | 2GB + 100Mins + 500SMS + Free WA |
| 5,200 | 35GB + 2GB TY + 2500Mins + 5K SMS + Free WA | 45GB + 2GB TY + 2500Mins + 5K SMS + Free WA |
| 10,430 | 50GB + 2GB TY + 7500Mins + 10K SMS + Free WA | 100GB + 2GB TY + 7500Mins + 10K SMS + Free WA |
Notes
The bundles can be purchased from the 544 menu, mySafaricom app or the Blaze app.
The bundles are available for all prepaid, postpaid and hybrid customer.
You can use Bonga points to purchase the bundles, but you cannot use them to buy for another number.
The preceding point means you can purchase the revised bundles for another number.
Lastly, you cannot extend the validity of free WhatsApp by buying another bundle before the expiry of the current one.
Then there’s Airtel who give you 400mbs for ksh 20. Safaricom without Mpesa is just an average Telco.
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