In a media event held yesterday, 9th Dec 2019, Airtel Kenya revised downwards the prices of their data bundle offerings in favor of the customer. They followed Safaricom’s introduction of non-expiring data bundles in October in a bid to woo more customers and maintain existing. Kenyan Telecommunications companies are currently facing a legal suit by a Kenyan who sought legal redress on the disappearance of internet bundles from their accounts once their validity period is over.
The new tariff dubbed #BeSureNaAirtel went live yesterday and offers 5 Megabytes for every shilling and 2 shillings per minute for calls across all the networks. This used to be 4.3 shillings for every megabyte of data. It can be accessed by dialing *544#. These packages are quite cheaper when compared to Safaricom’s offering only when below Ksh 50 but after that, it becomes relatively comparable in price per megabyte.
Airtel Kenya MD Prasanta Das Sarma notes that there is a raising need for data for business and social needs and customers need to browse without being restrained by internet cost. By offering 100% more data compared to previous offerings, customers are set to benefit more from these packages.
Airtel Kenya also revamped existing Amazing bundles by effectively doubling their offering while maintaining the price. Sh300 now offers 3GB from the previous 1.5GB, 5GB for Sh500 from 4GB and 12GB for Sh1000 from 10GB.
For heavy internet users like myself, 12GB is too little and I would prefer going with other service providers that offer better deals despite their limited coverage. Faiba offers an attractive 30-day package for Sh1000 but that expires after 30 days, perfect for me since I am sure I will have depleted by then. However, for Airtel and Safaricom’s non-expiring bundles, they are great for smartphones since I will have them as long as I wish with moderate usage when out of range of cheaper service providers. Non-expiring data bundles still remain attractive to any moderate to heavy user.
The future will be quite interesting considering this development from Airtel as other service providers albeit their tiny market share will likely follow the two giants and introduce their versions of the same.
