telecoms

New Orange Kenya, YU and Zain Kenya Offers.

The last couple of weeks have been nothing short of hectic! Therefore, my blog has been somewhat silent! In that time, I have been trying balance lots of work whilst catching up on all the news and events. Therefore, this posting is something of a “summary” of the interesting bits and pieces I have picked up in Kenya’s Internet and Telecoms areas. Its surprising just how much is happening in such a short span of time – things are really on a tear! Here is what I have managed to pick out, thus far:

  • Orange Kenya this week has launched its “Internet Everywhere” offering. The service is being marketed as “fast, easy, plug and play internet access”. The interesting aspects of this service include affordable tariffs of as low as Kes. 1.00 per megabyte and modem prices of only Kes. 4,400.00. In addition to the Internet Everywhere service, Orange Kenya has also massively reduced its pricing for the iPhone 3G to Kes. 19,999.00 which its licensed to market in Kenya. The iPhone 3G offer also includes 9 hours of talk time across all national networks, 300 SMS’s plus 300 megabytes of data all free, every month.
  • YU, Kenya’s fourth mobile network has introduced what can only be described as the most inexpensive SMS offer in Kenya. In fact, its not even inexpensive, its FREE! As of this past week, YU has launched free SMS services on its network for YU to YU messages, all day and all night. The free SMS model is a first in Kenya and its bound to drive increased uptake of YU’s services which currently have the smallest subscriber base in Kenya.
  • Zain Kenya, obviously in response to Safaricom’s massive 3G internet push, has launched its own special bundle. The main difference is that the Zain offer has unlimited monthly internet access as well as a free USB modem for only Kes. 3,999.00 per month. However, the caveat is that a deposit of Kes. 10,000.00 is required upfront as well as personal paperwork.
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15 Comments

  1. April 9, 2009 at 1:16 am — Reply

    thanks for updates on connection, i’m just curious with all this offers what are the speeds, and what is the quality of service.
    im just curious coz there is excitement about the fiber optics som im assuming interente connections for data within kenya are fast or good.

  2. dv
    April 13, 2009 at 11:37 am — Reply

    Nice – but where’s the info on the iphone offer? A google search for “site:www.orange.co.ke iphone” comes up with – nothing…

  3. Justin
    May 10, 2009 at 6:20 pm — Reply

    Hi Moses. I follow your blog alot. It is one of the more informative in Kenya. Could you find out more about iPhone offer and update us because Orange don’t seem to have alot on their website. Kudos!

  4. Justin
    May 11, 2009 at 2:22 am — Reply

    The offer that you’ve written above for the iPhone, is it recurrent, meaning monthly, and how much will we have to pay for the service? Will it be through the nose, much like what Americans do? A friend on AT&T told me he pays up to $130 a month. That would just about do the work of a dialysis machine on you. Would you also comment on the browsing experience, seeing that orange do not offer 3G. As mentioned, there is a dearth of good info on it.

  5. May 11, 2009 at 7:02 am — Reply

    Justin, thanks for the comments. It seems that Orange finally posted some detailed information on their Iphone packages. Go to:

    http://www.orange.co.ke/mobile/iphone.php

    Hope this helps 🙂

  6. Musty
    May 18, 2009 at 2:00 pm — Reply

    Moses, the Zain offer looks good nut terribly slow and they have blocked access to facebook!!! You can only get into facebook on a zain broadband connection via a facebook proxy site. I can’t believe they have the cheek to control the sites I have access to.

  7. May 23, 2009 at 8:03 am — Reply

    How good is the Zain broadband offer in its practicality? Has anyone else also experienced problems with the Zain broadband? I need to make the decision and buy a modem, so any help will be highly appreciated. Thanks

  8. Allan
    July 31, 2009 at 5:02 am — Reply

    Dear Moses.
    By good luck i saw this blog.
    Its simple, elaborate and educative. Cogratulations.

    on the contrary, the information was updated April 08, 2009. you will agree with me that so much has changed now.i ama a zain subsciber,have experienced the services in other networks but there is something unique about zain. the internet services are not offering the fastest speeds, but its reliable and stands tall over 3G. Zain internet services are on EDGE, but the experience is great plus the GPRS Roaming facility in other one-network countries.As regarding the market placement, zain is giving the modem for free, but there is a deposit of 5000 kes.
    you need to update the blog oftenly. otherwise good stuff!!!

  9. Unlocksolutionskenya
    December 16, 2009 at 5:01 pm — Reply

    Zain services are slow though reliable but with their application for 3g licence, we hope for good times ahead. safaricom offers excelent speeds if you are near the base stations/masts and orange have an impressive service with the 3g+ modem
    Those of you who want to purchase modems id recommend you purchase the Zain modem, unlock it and use any other networks simcard that works best for you. currently orange offers the cheapest bundle rates in the market
    Those of you who want to unlock your modems email your request at unlocksolutionskenya@gmail.com and we will mail you back with the procedure
    We charge 500 for this service
    Word on the street is that safcom plans to introduce a 4g modem capable of doing 50mbps downlink…..can you begin to imagine what you can do with 50mbps bandwidth…..

  10. david matu wachiuri
    January 20, 2010 at 9:17 am — Reply

    hy thankks for the update can i get a second hand iphone if yes can u hook me up?

  11. Robert
    May 11, 2010 at 5:51 pm — Reply

    Good stuff..bt yu seems cheapest on my unlocked modem,correct me if u may pliz

  12. Mburu
    May 20, 2010 at 4:21 pm — Reply

    Hi Moses, I follow your blog very often because of it’s incomparable informative nature. But my recent concern is why unlocksolutionskenya charges 500 for the same service (unlocking modems)that i charge 300 or 200 on selected individuals. So thats why my college colleagues and students from other colleges run to me for the service. But i don’t complain since the service is almost effortless; i don’t even touch their modems. Reach me at mburukb@gmail.com for any comments.

    • May 23, 2010 at 4:52 pm — Reply

      Mburu i no longer charge 500 now its 300 for unlocking modems
      I only charge 500 if i need to reset a permanently blocked modem(due to wrong unlock codes being entered)
      I also unlock LG and ZTE phones Huawei routers and ZTE MF series modems and many more
      For those interested in the unlocking tool contact me
      unlocksolutionskenya@gmail.com
      Currently YU is the [cheapest for those who want to do basic browsing….i have tested the one month unlimited and i can say its the best for light users…..just ensure the network signal at your area is strong before you buy the one month premium

  13. martin
    June 7, 2010 at 10:45 am — Reply

    i love this forum,have any1 heard of yu modems? How fast r they? I gather yu is the cheapest,i just need basic browsing n small capacity down/uploads

  14. April 19, 2011 at 1:34 pm — Reply

    dear unlocksolutions
    I want to unlock my orange modem but can not because i cannot see m its IMEI code pliz assist

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