Lipa Mdogo Mdogo is bridging digital divide for nearly a million Kenyans
Lipa Mdogo Mdogo is bridging digital divide for nearly a million Kenyans
Over 800,000 customers are now enjoying the benefits of fast internet connectivity via smartphones acquired through Safaricom's handset purchase plan Lipa Mdogo Mdogo.
The initiative, which is part of Safaricom's plan to bridge the digital divide, enables customers to enjoy digitally enabled services such as online banking, e-commerce, access to a variety of entertainment platforms, e-learning, and State service portals eCitizen.
The telco giant is enhancing its partnership with mobile phone makers to expand the variety of smartphones under Lipa Mdogo Mdogo portfolio, Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa said during the release of the telco's full-year results.
In December, Safaricom partnered with Google and Transsion, the phone maker behind TECNO, Infinix, and itel, to enable more Kenyans to access 4G devices under Lipa Mdogo Mdogo financing plan.
The deal allows customers to choose from itel A24, TECNO Spark 7, and TECNO CAMON 17. The devices are available at all Safaricom shops and dealer outlets with a deposit of Kes500, Kes3,000, and Kes5,000 respectively, with the balance payable via flexible daily, weekly, or monthly installments.
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Customers can also dial *544# and select option 8 – Lipa Mdogo Mdogo to buy their smartphones.
"We continue to support customers to purchase 4G-enabled devices through our affordable Lipa Mdogo Mdogo offering which has enabled about 800,000 customers to enjoy more features at their convenience," said Dilip Pal, the Chief Finance Officer at Safaricom.
At the moment, a total of 12 million subscribers in Kenya are using feature phones and it is this group of customers that Safaricom is banking on to upgrade their handsets.
In the financial year ended March, data customers consuming over 1GB and active 4G devices grew at 26.5 percent and 29.3 percent respectively thereby highlighting the opportunity to drive usage, explained Dilip.
The telco's continued focus on customers led to a 6.4 percent increase to 42.44 million one-month active subscribers for the period, with client numbers growing across all revenue streams.
Customers upgrading to smartphones can expect good internet connectivity as Safaricom 4G network now covers roughly 97 percent of the country with 95 percent service quality assessment score by the industry regulator.
