Safaricom Chief Executive Officer Bob Collymore at a media briefing on
March 31, 2014 in Nairobi. Safaricom has announced that the Karibu
PostPay tariff will not be terminated and that the telecom has instead
capped at 30 days the validity period of the minutes, SMS and data
allocated to subscribers. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Safaricom has announced that the Karibu PostPay tariff will not be terminated.
The
popular tariff which has two price plans, bundles minutes, text and
data at a subsided rate. For Sh1,000 per month, a subscriber gets 900
minutes talk time for on-net calls, 100 minutes for off-net calls, 100
megabytes of data and 100 on-net SMSes.
For the Sh2,500
per month package, subscribers get 2,200 minutes for
Safaricom-to-Safaricom calls, 300 minutes to rival networks, 250
megabytes of data and 250 on-net text messages.
The
company has instead imposed a validity period on the SMS, minutes and
data resources allocated to subscribers, who now have 30 days to exhaust
them. Any resources left unused will be forfeited and not be rolled
over to the following months as has been the case previously.
On Thursday, the company notified subscribers of the latest changes through a text message,
“We
are happy to inform you that your PostPay bundle will not come to an
end on 26 May but unused SMS, Data & Minutes will expire. New bundle
validity is 30 days,” it read.
Safaricom
had warned it planned on pulling the plug on the popular tariff way
back in May 2014, when it announced it would not be signing on new
subscribers.
Citing losses in the
Karibu postpaid tariff, which had gained popularity with over 140,000
subscribers, the company said the tariff was a promotional one and was
unsustainable for the company.
RIGHTFULLY BOUGHT
“People
on postpaid are essentially making calls at less than one shilling per
minute,” Bob Collymore, Safaricom’s CEO, said in May 2014 when he
announced the termination.
On average, Safaricom customers on prepaid plans are charged Sh4 per minute.
Earlier this year, Safaricom said that it would not cancel the tariff altogether but would review its terms and conditions.
This long-awaited announcement has not gone down well with customers, who have complained on various online platforms.
Collins
Otieno wrote: “This is the most unfair thing ever done to me by
Safaricom, this resources were paid for!! 30 days, 60 days, 90 days is
not fair!
“Safaricom should let its
clients enjoy what they paid for to the fullest, they may have (a) right
to stop accumulating beginning 26th May but not expiring accumulated
resources,” he said.
Some customers
felt the notice was too short and they could not possibly exhaust their
remaining resources in the stipulated time.
“This
is so wrong. I have 20,000 accumulated minutes! Safaricom reassured us
that we would not lose our minutes as they were going to change the
product tariffs. Now they give us 26 days to clear that balance? We
should start a class action suit. Safaricom cannot purport to withdraw
accumulated minutes which we have already paid for,” he said.
Muthoni
Mwariri wondered, “What will I do with 14,000 Minutes with only 26
days. They should have given enough period to clear this like 3 months
coz we paid for this and never got it for free. Why take it away??,” she
asked.
This latest outcry follows that of new data bundles launched
in March this year. While increasing the amount of data allowance
customers could get, the validity period was capped at 30 days.
Irate customers vented their outrage, forcing the company to reinstate a former bundle with a longer validity period.
Most subscribers wondered if the latest move by Safaricom was legal at the same time wondering what respite there was for them.
Fredrick Siphesihle said he rightfully bought his resources and they belonged to him.
APPROVAL TO TERMINATE
“I
bought the bundles why take them from me? I was not given for free!!
from the little knowledge I have about the law I know very well that the
law can never be applied backward hence Safaricom will be going against
the law,” he said.
A user by the name of Sam warned Safaricom to expect long-drawn-out cases,
“This
is completely illegal, ridiculous and selfish. (These) are bundles
people bought and now Safaricom wants to take them away ? They should
refund the money paid, give notice for 3 months for people to exhaust
the bundles and sign up with customers new terms.
“Safaricom
should expect lengthy court cases on this from it's customers!!! This
is an abuse of dominance dictating to customers at will!!!(sic).”
Other customers have launched an online petition and are urging people to sign it.
Safaricom,
which is the largest telecoms operator in Kenya by market size and
introduced the post paid service in 2011 in the midst of calling tariff
wars in the industry, had already received approval from the
Communication Authority to terminate the tariff.
The company had predicted that current customers had until May 2015 to enjoy the services.
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