Kenya's dominant telco Safaricom has confirmed an increase in charges for voice, SMS and internet services as the East African country's newly introduced Finance Act 2018 is enforced.
In a statement by the company, CEO Bob Collymore said, "As a result of the increased taxes passed in the Finance Act 2018, we wish to notify our customers that from midnight tonight, the 18th October 2018, our headline price for voice calls and data will increase by 30 cents and SMS by 10 cents."
Prices for Fibre to the Building (FTTB) and Fibre to the Home (FTTH) will be slapped with 15% internet levy as proposed by the law.
The lowest FTTH bronze package will be priced at Kshs 2,900 from Kshs 2,500, while the Platinum plus package, the highest, will be pegged at Kshs 12,499 from Kshs 10,999.
"We are aware of- and regret the impact these additional taxes on our customers. It is our sincere hope that these changes will not affect the remarkable gains we have made in mobile phone and internet penetration in Kenya over the last two decades," Collymore added.
Safaricom has over 29 million subscribers who stand to be affected.
Other service providers like Wananchi Group's Zuku Internet have already adjusted their prices according to the new taxes.
According to company documents Zuku internet subscribers will pay additional fees of between Kshs 200 (US$2) and Kshs 2000 (US$20), depending on their service package.
All ISPs for both terrestrial and mobile-based services are expected to adjust their prices in the coming weeks.
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