Kenya: Safaricom Bows to Faiba Over ‘Kutafuna Bundles’ Menace, Promises New Data Packages

Your bad experience with depletion of Safaricom’s data bundles may be coming to an end after CEO Bob Collymore promised to deliver a more transparent and user-friendly data experience.

Speaking during the company’s Annual General Meeting on Friday, Collymore said that Safaricom will in the next few months announce new data packages in line with their customers’ needs.

To address the data issue, Safaricom will unveil ways of enabling customers to manage their data usage by choosing their preferred internet speeds while browsing.

"We have received numerous complaints from our customers that their data is being depleted too fast giving them a bad experience. My commitment to our customers going forward is that we will deliver a user-friendly data experience," said Collymore.

Kenya’s mobile penetration stands at 88.7% currently with Safaricom having over 4,600 network sites across the country. 86% of the Kenyan population is covered with 3G network.

While this sounds like good news to many of the telco’s subscribers, already Jamii Telcom (JTL) is ahead of the game offering internet bundles at competitive prices.

Launched in 2017, Faiba 4G has upset the erstwhile expensive data market with rates that have driven Kenyans in droves to the new provider. Christened Faiba Mobile, this is JTL’s next frontier after it was granted a 700MHz frequency allowing the company to operate 4G.

The fifth mobile network operator has had a good year and its offerings have forced other providers to review their charges downwards giving big wins and breaks to Kenya’s internet users.

JTL which operates on the prefix 0747 invested Sh5.1 billion in its network infrastructure which is proving to be a good deal. However, its concentration in urban areas only is limiting its uptake in regions away from major towns.

For Safaricom, the year ended March 31, 2018, saw a 29% drop in the effective price of data coupled with scaled up access with a Fibre Optic Footprint of 4,700 km countrywide. This coverage has allowed the mobile giant access to more than 141,000 households.

Safaricom’s measures will also include notifying customers of any abnormal spikes in data usage, which often occur during auto updates of apps and software, streaming and archiving of multimedia content.In cases where this fails and a customer’s data is depleted unexpectedly, Safaricom will reimburse the customer’s data bundle.To further complement voice biometrics, Safaricom will be exploring the use of finger and facial recognition in a bid to curb SIM fraud. Mobile money transactions […]

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