Safaricom has introduced a new promotion that will see customers talk more on its network and in return enjoy discounts of up to 75% on their calling rates.
The promotion comes at a time when Safaricom’s dominance in the mobile telephony is thinning due to pressure from rival companies.
Dubbed Wakenya Tuongee, the promotion will see customers pay Kshs. 4 for the first minute of their call, Kshs.3 for calls between 1 and 2 minutes and Kshs. 2 for the calls that last between 2 and 3 minutes. Calls that last for more than 3 minutes will be charged at Ksh. 1.
Chief Executive Officer Bob Collymore said the promotional offer has been informed by the need to reward loyal Safaricom customers by offering a proposition that allows them to communicate for longer without spending too much.
“One of the outstanding attributes at Safaricom is our customer focus. And so on a periodic basis we always review our customer propositions with a view to enhancing the Safaricom experience for our customers,” said Collymore.
The Chief Executive Officer explained that the Wakenya Tuongee promotion, which runs from the 24th of July to 23rd of August 23 2012, has also been informed by insights that indicate that a majority of customers talk for less than two minutes, and this proposition is aimed at encouraging customers to talk more with their families, friends and business partners.
The Wakenya Tuongee promotion will only apply to Pre-Paid customers making Safaricom-to-Safaricom calls from 6am to 6pm. Customers will be required to subscribe to the it by dialing *777# to enjoy the promotion which will be charged on a per second billing basis.
The usual calling rates for customers calling other networks within Kenya and international calls will remain. Safaricom which is a market leader in the telecommunications sector with over 19 million subscribers has seen its market share cut, the latest report from the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) shows.
Yu which sliced its call rates to fee of Sh5per day for the first minute of calls made within the network every day and further calls within its network going for free, registered a surge in its market share by 0.8 percentage points as Telkom Kenya (Orange) and Airtel saw a rise of 0.3 percentage points and 0.1 percentage points respectively.
James Ndone is a Communication and Journalism student at Moi University
