Could Airtel Kenya’s UnlimiNET Bundles For Voice, Data & SMS Services Be A Game Changer?
One thing you have to admire about Airtel Kenya is how much effort they keep putting into making a dent in a market dominated by Safaricom. Year in and year out it seems they try anything and everything to find a chink in Safaricom’s armour and it always seems to me that as valiant as these efforts are they always seem to be somewhat futile? However, Airtel Kenya today announced their prepaid UnlimiNET bundles that combine voice, data and SMS services in very competitively priced packages that could actually get existing and prospective customers quite excited! Below is a table that shows how the UnlimiNET bundles are broken down:
| Bundle Price (Kes) | 50.00 | 100.00 | 250.00 | 500.00 | 1,000.00 | 2,000.00 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Validity Days | 1 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 30 | 30 |
| Data | 100 MB | 300 MB | 500 MB | 1.5 GB | 2 GB | 6 GB |
| Voice Minutes (All Networks) | 20 | 60 | 100 | 300 | 400 | 1200 |
| SMS (All Networks) | 100 | 500 | 500 | 2500 | 2000 | 10000 |
The way that the UnlimiNET bundles work is that for as little as Kes. 50.00 per day you will get 20 minutes of voice calls to any mobile network in Kenya, 100 SMS messages to any mobile network in Kenya and 100MB data on a daily basis. However, the real kicker is that even if you use up your UnlimiNET bundles you STILL get unlimited access to Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram and Gmail within the same day that your bundle is valid although web browsing speeds in particular are throttled down to 256 kbps. Not. Bad!
Given how popular ALL of these Internet services are in Kenya and especially WhatsApp for instant messaging, there is no doubt that existing and prospective Airtel Kenya customers will try out the UnlimiNET bundles. Another fact about the Airtel Kenya UnlimiNET bundles is that its possible to make cross-network calls in Kenya for as little as Kes. 1.70 per minute, which is even less than Safaricom’s on-net rate of Kes. 2.00 per minute. If you compare the cost of buying Internet only bundles from Safaricom and Orange Kenya to what you get with these new Airtel Kenya bundles it looks like incredible value for money! What remains to be seen is how they will respond? The gloves are most certainly coming off!
The Author
4 Comments
It will be interesting to watch who wins in this duel between Airtel and other Telcos.Having said that,the rates are what many would concur is good value for money if the quality from Airtel to other networks remains excellent.
This will be an interesting game, i understand they are ceasing Club 20 which has 100MB data. Compared with orange 250ksh unlimited that’s capped at 500MB airtel is better since you also get 100 free minutes off net and 500sms
The 256kbps is somehow low given the fact that your download speed will be 32kbps (256/8=32) If you are using a PC you’ll have a hard time browsing but still its a better option compared to their rival counterparts.
This is indeed hilarious, for the first time, i saw it, so for A moment, i thought they were joking but atleast, it is working superb!