Over 50,000 Safaricom customers have jumped ship on the telco’s flexible 4G smartphone financing plan dubbed Lipa Mdogo Mdogo .
According to the telco, it reached the 50,000 mark by the end of September, slightly over two months since the July 28th launch .
The program allows users to upgrade their 2G feature phones to a 4G smartphone paying a Ksh 1000 downpayment and at least Ksh 20 daily but with flexible options to pay weekly, partially, and even fully.
“We’re excited about the results we are seeing,” says Sylvia Mulinge, the company’s Chief Customer Officer.
She reveals the company had planned to use the first quarter of the program to gauge the results regarding customer uptake and repayment.
The main focus of Lipa Mdogo Mdogo is to convert Safaricom customers that have been using a 2G feature phone for over a year to a 4G-enabled smartphone as it aims to bridge the digital divide.
The company’s CEO Peter Ndegwa revealed the large disparity between its 4G and 2G & 3G customer base. Speaking to the Business Daily, Mulinge says about 50 percent of their customer base still uses the 2G network.
Lipa Mdogo Mdogo, in partnership with Google, aims to convert a million 2G customers to 4G by the end of this year – which seems a far cry dream for the company as it stands.
“We have about 50,000 customers who have already taken it up. We want to scale up by using our dealer network,” said Mulinge.
Safaricom plans to improve its data business, which is seen as key to offset the slow growth experienced in mobile calls.
The telcos half-year revenue dropped to 33.07 billion from KES 35.2 billion in the same period last year, with significant drops in M-PESA revenue and contraction in revenue from its voice and service arms. Follow us on Telegram , Twitter , Facebook , or subscribe to our weekly newsletter to ensure you don’t miss out on any future updates.