Safaricom says customers have taken up about 50,000 smartphones that require daily repayments of as little as KES 20, Business Daily reported. In July, Safaricom launched the device finance plan ‘Lipa Mdogo Mdogo’, giving customers still on feature phones an opportunity to own a 4G-enabled phone.
Safaricom says the figure was reached between 28 July and the end of September, meaning 769 customers per day on average. Safaricom seeks to convert about 4 million 2G and 3G-enabled phones to 4G eventually to improve its data business.
Sylvia Mulinge, chief customer officer, said Safaricom wants to raise uptake using its dealer network. Safaricom is partnering with Google to offer 1 million affordable smartphones.
Lipa Mdogo Mdogo is open to customers who have been on Safaricom network for at least one year and have not been blacklisted by any credit reference bureau (CRB). Safaricom allows customers to make daily, weekly, partial or full payment and sends three SMS reminders every day to prompt customers to pay.