Safaricom #ticker:SCOM has introduced discounts on its home fixed Internet service by up to Sh400 or 16.6 percent in an effort to woo customers and ward off competition from rivals.
The telco has been asking some of its customers on its Sh2,999 package where it offers speeds of 8Mbps to pay Sh2,500 only on their next subscription.
Paying the lower amount through the telco’s paybill number will not interfere with customers’ remaining days on their existing subscription.
Paying through the USSD code will, however, usher in the new subscription. This means that a subscriber risks losing the days that was left on their normal package if they jump on the offer early and pay via USSD code.
“Some customers may, however, receive offers from time to time,” said Safaricom in response to the Business Daily queries on the offers.
The telco has since March 2020 offered customers with double bandwidth which enables users to access high-speed Internet at half the price as a way of supporting the government’s call on Kenyans to work from home.
The telco charges Sh4,100 for its 20Mbps package, Sh6,299 for its 40Mbps package and Sh12,499 for its 100Mbps package.
Safaricom had 269,397 fixed data subscriptions as at last December according to the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) data, maintaining its leadership ahead of Zuku.
Safaricom has ramped up investments in the business segment amid the Covid-19 restrictions that increased demand for Internet as employees worked from home and learning institutions adopted online learning.
The telco earlier said that the Covid-19 restrictions imposed in March 2020 after Kenya recorded the first infection led to a traffic surge for its data services as customers stayed and worked from home.
The restrictions have since been lifted. Safaricom chief executive Peter Ndegwa in April 2020 said the combined data carried on a daily basis via mobile and fixed home Internet had reached 2.34 petabytes, translating to five million hours of continuous viewing.Data services are expected to keep growing in the coming years as traditional businesses for telcos including voice and messaging stagnates and declines. bnjoroge@ke.nationmedia.com
