Safaricom’s All In One Bundles Are Comparable To What We Are Getting Locally

Zimbabwean telecoms, infrastructure sharing,

Safaricom’s All In One bundle offers subscribers an all-inclusive package that has data, minutes and SMS’s hence the name. On top of this Safaricom has recently begun giving 5GB monthly data for YouTube videos at no extra cost which is pretty cool.

The extra data is available on the cheaper KES1000 (US$9.90) & KES2000(US$19.80) All In One package.

How expensive is Safaricom data?

There’s been a lot of uproar on social media about Zimbabwean data being too expensive and out of the reach of many so I decided to compare what most Kenyans are paying for their data vs what we get to pay down here.

US$9.90 is not an insignificant amount and I thought it would be interesting to mention just how much data that can get you in Kenya (or from Safaricom specifically). The bundle is Yo-Mix like in that you get to choose what you prioritise and there are 3 packages you can choose with your US$9.90:

Talk More: 400 mins +1GB Data

Talk & Browse: 200 mins + 4GB Data

Mega Data: 5GB

I’m using the current exchange rates (black market not Interbank) thus US$9.90 is in the RTGS$48.51 range. If we compare the mega data bundle to the monthly offerings we have locally the outcome is pretty interesting :

Telecel’s Monthly 5GB Data bundle costs RTGS$75 (US$15), whilst Econet and NetOne don’t even have monthly bundles. Their closest competitors to this is a 3,1GB (Econet) and 2.5GB (NetOne) bundle that cost $100 (US$20) and $50 (US$10.2) respectively.

The differences are negligible and once you consider the fact Safaricom has close to 30 million subscribers you can see how they manage to undercut local mobile network operators just marginally. You can also see how before the recent changes in data prices we weren’t paying much to access the internet.

The South African Competition Commission came out and said that mobile data is too expensive in the country and thus a trend emerges. Maybe it’s not unique to Zimbabwe and mobile data is generally just expensive. If a mobile network with close to 30 million subscribers has comparable prices to 3 networks with less than half of the total subscribers, then maybe our mobile networks aren’t cartels trying to rip us off after all. I said maybe because I’m not too sure…

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4 comments

  1. Interest

    If you not sure better to be silent…. Hearsay is very dangerous. Also salaries are not in USD here and the conversion is also tricky. Better to compare salaries with cost of data…

    1. Farai Mudzingwa

      Business don’t acquire infrastructure based on the salaries of people… I don’t think when Econet, NetOne, and Telecel buy infrastructure and Diesel the people selling these things to them say “Well salaries in your country are low so we will sell these things at you at a cheaper rate” I don’t get why people won’t use their common sense when discussing these issues.. Does Samsung sell their hardware at a lower cost in Zimbabwe because the people in Zimbabwe are poor??

  2. The Principal

    Cheap or expensive is a function of the size of your purse, which in turn depends on the health of the economy. Kenya is one of top performing countries and her citizens can afford to pay higher prices for Data. Do not compare the incomparable.

    1. Farai Mudzingwa

      My guy when mobile network operators but equipment and Diesel to run base stations the people selling them these things do not cut the price because salaries in Zimbabwe are low… Network operators don’t buy base stations in bond notes because the companies selling these to then understand kuti Zimbabwe yakaoma… Those are the broader points we are try to make by having these comparisons…. Use your sense instead of just being emotional because you or someone can no longer afford data

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