Telkom joins Safaricom and Airtel to hike calling rates
Telkom Kenya Monday became the third mobile operator in Kenya to hike calling rates following the new taxes.
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The firm’s Chief Executive Aldo Mareuse said the assent of the Finance Act 2018 into Law has resulted in the review of taxes that affect our services to you.
Mareuse said excise duty tax on Voice, SMS and Internet Data services, has been reviewed to a rate of 15 percent, up from 10 percent.
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“With these dynamics, and having taken time to extensively deliberate on how best to address these changes, a review of our costs is inevitable. Effective midnight, Tuesday, October 23, 2018, our headline prices for Mobile Prepaid Voice and SMS will increase by 30 cents and 10 cents respectively,” Mareuse said.
This translates to a revision of our costs as follows: Off-net calls at Sh3.30 cents per minute, on-net calls at Sh2.30cts per minute and SMS (any-net) at Sh1.10 cents per SMS.
In addition, our Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) price for Mobile Data will also see an increase of 30 cents per MB; this translates to a new Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) price of Sh4.30cents.
However, Mobile Data Bundle prices will not be affected.
Moreover, Mobile Postpaid Services will also reflect the 15 percent Excise Duty tax, up from 10 percent, whereas our Broadband and Fixed Voice Services will see the introduction of 15% Excise Duty tax.
“Although these additional taxes will lead to an increase in the cost of Voice and Data services to our customers, Telkom remains committed to deliver best value to them.”
Safaricom became the first operator to increase its calling rates last week. The price hikes are set to hurt consumers and slow down the sector that had triumphed due to accessibility.
