Safaricom will on Tuesday 28th July 2020 kick off the sale of smartphones on credit to its subscribers who will make daily payments of as little as Sh20 a day for up to a year as the firm seeks to ramp up data revenues.
The telco is partnering with Google to offer one million affordable smartphones.
Safaricom is aiming to rev up its data business to offset sluggish growth in mobile calls, where it has seen a small revenue growth due to saturation, forcing the firm to turn to M-Pesa and internet to power future growth.
“Cost of devices should no longer be an impediment. We are launching an innovative device financing plan dubbed dubbed Lipa Mdogo Mdogo that will give customers still using feature phones an opportunity to own a 4G- enabled device by paying only Sh20 a day,” said Safaricom chief executive Peter Ndegwa said in opinion published in the Business Daily.
The offer will be available for all phones and the daily repayments will increase if subscribers go for high value smartphones as Safaricom seeks to eventually convert about 4 million 2G and 3G-enabled phones to 4G.
Safaricom said earlier it will this year launch Kenya’s first fifth-generation (5G) mobile internet services targeting major urban centres, making it the inaugural operator to offer commercial and superfast services in the region.
The 5G launch will follow the December 2015 unveiling of the 4G network, which has helped Safaricom grow its revenues from data to Sh40.67 billion as at March this year from Sh9.3 billion in 2014.
The firm had completed testing and trials for the upgraded network as the company seeks to capitalise on burgeoning mobile Internet use in the country.
The 5G service is a central part of its attempts to further expand its data business to counter slower growth in voice calls revenue.