At least 6 million Safaricom customers used the 'Reverse Call' feature on a daily basis in the year to March 31, highlighting the difficult times many continue to endure as airtime becomes a luxury.
The 6 million represent 18.3 per cent of Safaricom’s 32.8 million active customers over the period.
The reverse call, which was introduced by Safaricom in 2019, has proved to be popular among Kenyans who cannot afford airtime.
“We connected 16,226 homes and noted 6 million customers daily engaging on the reverse call service,” Safaricom stated in its 2022 sustainability report.
The report reveals the harsh economic times that Kenyans continue to face, with the reported period having witnessed the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, which disrupted global supply chains and caused commodity prices to raise.
Safaricom introduced the reverse call product to complement its ‘Please Call Me’ service which involves a customer sending a free message to another customer asking the recipient to call back, though the messages are capped at a maximum of five daily.
It was over the same period that Safaricom also launched the overdraft service, Fuliza, on which subscribers borrow nearly Sh1.4 billion daily.
In the report, Safaricom also highlighted the popularity of its ‘Storo Bonus’ product, which rewards customers with free airtime once they spend a specified amount of airtime in a day, saying millions of people have benefitted from it daily.
“Under Storo Bonus, a popular service that rewards all pre-paid customers for their loyalty, we engaged 2 million customers daily,” the company said.
