Business
Kenya’s Safaricom makes significant reducuctions in roaming charges
Kenya’s leading wireless operator, Safaricom, has cut roaming charges for subscribers travelling to 21 countries across the world, giving them much needed relief from the usually exorbitant charges.
The telecoms firm has announced that it has signed roaming agreements with affiliates of Vodafone — its majority shareholder — in Albania, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland and Italy.
Other countries are Malta, New Zealand, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Netherlands, Turkey, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Lesotho and Mozambique.
Safaricom subscribers travelling to these countries will now receive 10 minutes of call time, 10 text messages and 10 megabytes of data for Ksh200 (US$2.20) a significant drop from current rates.
“We have aggressively lobbied countries and our partners to ensure our subscribers can enjoy the same reliable communication services they have come to know in Kenya when they travel at significantly reduced rates,” said Bob Collymore, the carrier’s CEO.
For instance, Safaricom customers calling home from Egypt will now pay just Ksh200 (US$2.20) for ten minutes of conversation, a 77 percent drop from the previous charge of over Ksh900 (US$9.90).
Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda had agreed to cap roaming charges in the three states at about Ksh8.80 (US$0.09) per minute beginning last September.
Safaricom says it is in talks with Uganda and Tanzania to implement reduced charges, lowering the cost of doing business in the region.
