Among the major telcos operating in the country, Safaricom has been the last to review its product pricing following the adjustment of Excise Duty on services from 15% to 20%. Well, it certainly didn’t take too long as the firm has now announced that this has forced them to increase rates on a number of its voice call, data and SMS services.

Taking effect from 7th July 2021, all out-of-bundle voice calls, data and SMS together with integrated plans will see a rate increase. Peak hours will now see rates increase to 4.87 per minute while off-peak hours will charge KES 2.50 per minute.

Fortunately, Safaricom will not be changing data bundle prices. This includes no-expiry bundles, daily bundles, weekly bundles, monthly bundles and Giga bundles. To confirm this, users can simply access the bundles via the *544# menu.

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Meanwhile, roaming and international calling and SMS rates have been revised to reflect the 20% Excise Duty. Safaricom’s Fiber to the Home and Fiber to the Business plans will also increase to align with the new tax.

Pricing for all personal postpaid plans including Karibu PostPay and all corporate postpaid services such as Zidisha Plus, Cloud Security, Collocation and IoT has also been revised accordingly. Customers will then notice the review from next month’s invoice.

According to a text sent from the telco to some of its customers, Fuliza daily fees will also increase to accommodate the 20% Excise Duty. Access fees will remain intact at 1%. To be aware of the exact charges, all one has to do is dial *234#.