Safaricom is now 20 years old and like with every birthday, the telco has a lot of new milestones and promises to share with its subscribers. As part of the celebrations for example, and in recognition of customers who have been a key journey in their growth, the company will be giving all subscribers one free call for upto 20 minutes within the next 30 days. When the time for their free call comes, customers will be notified a day prior. Additionally, subscribers who have been on the network for 20 years will receive a 20GB data bundle which will be valid for 7 days.
Safaricom officially launched on October 2000 and has been through quite a number of milestones that have defined its growth. It is hard to imagine that the company started with just 5 members of staff, with their first office being a two bedroom apartment at Longonot Place. The last two decades have seen massive growth from a telecommunication service provider to a technology company.
As the company moves forward into the next milestones, there are quite a number of promises for subscribers to look forward to, such as support for growth of SMEs and Micro-SMEs by offering enhanced financial services and connectivity solutions.
Going forward, subscribers can also look forward to other numerous improvements like 100% 4G coverage across the country by the end of this year, internet (both fibre and 4G) to one million homes and businesses over the next five years, and transformation of M-PESA into a lifestyle platform and universal payment network on the continent. This will be through M-PESA Africa.
To address any queries around data usage, the telcom will also launch the Data Usage Transparency – a service which provides detailed usage statements so that users know just where their data is going.
Pochi la Biashara
This is a new and innovative product that promises to really come through for M-PESA for Business users. The service will among other features allow separation of business and personal funds – something that a lot of people running SMEs struggle with.
For the next 30 days, a promotion dubbed 20@20 will enable customers to purchase 20 minutes of call time and 20MBs at KES 20, while for the next 90 days, customers purchasing personalized Tunukiwa voice offers will receive free 20 minutes to call across all networks. Both offers are available on USSD *444# under the ‘Buy Minutes’ option.