Safaricom’s device financing model Lipa Mdogo Mdogo is set to be even bigger as announced by the telco during its 20th-anniversary event.

The model was launched in July this year by the telco as a service meant to offer a wide range of affordable devices on instalments as low as KES 20 per day. The instalment does vary depending on the value of the device and one can choose to pay back the full amount even before the loan period lapses.

This idea was “borrowed” from Western countries where telcos offer devices locked to their network with customers having to pay a particular amount every month for a period of about two years.

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Safaricom plans on bringing in high-end devices into the credit service. According to Safaricom Chief Customer Officer, Sylvia Mulinge, this could be an early Christmas gift for the operator’s subscribers.

Perhaps, we could start seeing some flagship smartphones from Samsung, maybe even some of the latest iPhones. Considering the prices of these devices, it would be unreasonable to expect them to go for the same instalments as the current devices.

If you wish to access the service currently, you need:

1. To have been using a 2G phone
2. To have been using Safaricom products, (calling, texting, data) for at least a year
3. A down payment of KES 1,000

As it stands, you can pay KES 200 today and KES 100 tomorrow, depending on how much you have.

Additionally, if one doesn’t pay the minimum 20 bob amount, the phone gets locked and you’ll have to make the payment to unlock the device. The 4G device you get is also likely to have Android Go making it a much more pleasing bargain.

Safaricom 5G

Alongside all that also came some exciting news from Safaricom’s CEO Peter Ndegwa confirming the firm’s plan to establish a 5G network in Kenya but Kenyans should not expect a launch any time soon.

The network has been a long way coming considering Safaricom’s initiative to have fast network coverage in the country. As expected, this project could take a while since 5G is still in its inception stage everywhere around the world.

Speaking at the 20th-anniversary event, Mr Peter Ndegwa went ahead to re-enforce that there is no connection between 5G and the current health issues as many people have been claiming on social media. These claims caught attention amid the COVID-19 pandemic as many rose to blame the network as the cause.