Safaricom has announced a partnership with Google to launch a 4G smartphone financing program that will enable its subscribers to own a phone for as little as Ksh. 20 a day.
The deal is under the Safaricom Lipa mdogo mdogo program which aims help one million Kenyans acquire 4G smartphones. The telco company is currently piloting this flexible payment project and will be launched by the end of quarter one in this financial year.
The offer is available for all phones and the daily repayments will increase if subscribers go for high value smartphones. In the event a customer defaults on the repayment, Google will be able to switch it off thus rendering it useless.
With the deal, Safaricom is aiming to rev up its data business to offset sluggish growth in mobile calls, where it has seen a small revenue growth due to saturation, forcing the firm to turn to M-Pesa and data to power future growth.
Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa, had this to say, “smartphone devices are critical in supporting the new realities brought about by COVID-19. This proposition aims to support Kenyans during and beyond this pandemic by enabling them access more opportunities, be it learning, working or running businesses from the comfort of their homes.”