Telecommunications giant; Airtel, has raised the cost of making calls on its network by up to 0.78 Kenyan Shillings. This is in response to the corresponding increase in the excise duty placed on Data and Airtime.
The telecommunications company informed its subscribers via its Short Message Service (SMS) that calls to other networks will now cost 2.78 Kenyan Shillings per minutes as opposed to the previous 2 Kenyan Shillings cost, effective from yesterday; Friday the 2nd of July 2021.
The change in costs will most likely have a negative effect of Airtel subscribers who are still actively combating the reality that is a lower spending power as a result of the economic effects of the still ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.
The implemented increase on the call rates is coming after the excise duty on data and airtime was increased from 15 percent to 20 percent via the Finance Act, 2020.
The charges for mobile data and charges for Short Message Service (SMS) were however not increased and will remain the same.
Airtel via the Short Message Service (SMS) sent to its subscribers on the morning of the 2nd of July 2021 said, “Dear customer, due to an increase in excise duty from 15 percent to 20 percent from July 2, your call rate is now Sh2.78 per minute.”
The development makes Airtel the first telecommunications company in Kenya to increase its costs for calls as Telkom Kenya and Safaricom are yet to announce their price reviews.
Safaricom had however issued a warning on Tuesday the 29th of June 2021 stating that it would increase its internet charges and airtime charges if the MPs’ proposal to raise the excise duty by five (5) percent points was backed by the President.
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