Safaricom has cut the data allocation in several of its popular mobile bundles by more than 50%, effectively doubling what customers pay per MB. The changes rolled out over the weekend without any warning or official announcement from Kenya’s largest telecom operator.
The “No Expiry” bundles took the biggest hit. These packages, which don’t have an expiration date, were a favorite among users who wanted flexibility. Now, KES 51 gets you just 102MB instead of the previous 255MB. Spend KES 100 and you’ll receive 200MB, down from 400MB. The KES 250 package dropped from 1GB to 500MB.
When customers started complaining on social media, Safaricom posted a vague response on X claiming they were “aware of the issue affecting the awarding of data bundles” and that a resolution was underway.
We reached out to the company to find out if this was an intentional price change or a technical glitch, but no response was offered.
This change will hit Kenyan consumers hard, given the inflation and higher living costs they are already dealing with. Many subscribers only discovered the changes when they purchased bundles and noticed they were getting half the data they expected.
Safaricom controls 62.8% of Kenya’s mobile broadband market and has over 48 million active users, which means these cuts affect a massive portion of the country’s internet access.
The company’s other offerings, including the “All-In-One” plans that bundle data with minutes and SMS, along with hourly packages, remained unchanged as of publishing.
UPDATE:
Safaricom confirmed to Techweez that the reduced bundles were caused by a technical issue, not an intentional price change. The company has also refunded affected customers with the missing data.
Customers who received 102MB instead of 255MB for the KES 51 bundle, for example, were credited with the balance of 153MB.
Safaricom sent affected subscribers a message stating: “Dear customer, the issue with your non-expiry bundles is fixed and extra bundles added. We apologize for the inconvenience. Dial 54444# to check balance.”
