Kenya’s leading integrated telecommunications services provider Safaricom has launched a service that enables its subscribers to share data across devices, eliminating barriers to accessing data bundles.
Based on its popular airtime sharing service ‘Sambaza Credo’, launched in 2005, the new service dubbed ‘Internet Sambaza’ allows customers to transfer Internet data bundles from one mobile number to another.
Speaking during the official launch of ‘Internet Sambaza’, Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore said: “Internet Sambaza is yet another first for Safaricom as we embark on the exciting journey of democratising data and ushering in more users to the information age which is pushed through our mix of affordable connectivity and smart devices.”
One can ‘Sambaza’ (Swahili for ‘Share’) data bundles by dialing *544# and selecting the Internet Sambaza option, before entering the amount of Internet bundles to ‘Sambaza’ followed by the mobile number the data is to be sent to.
Customers can also send the bundles via an SMS to 450with the amount of Internet data bundles in MBs and the mobile number, separated by a star (*), or visit Safaricom.com/bundles for the same.
In the case of a customer sending bundles to a wrong number, then reversal of Sambaza Internet is not possible. Safaricom advised its customers to confirm the mobile number before completing the request.
The service will be available to both prepaid and postpaid subscribers, with the minimum bundle size that can be shared 5MB and a maximum of 2048MB (2GB) a day.
In Kenya’s telecoms industry, Safaricom leads in offering innovations pegged on adding value to its services, which it acknowledges has continued to redefine the way customers access its services. An example includes the ‘Okoa Jahazi’ programme, where customers can take a credit advance with a service charge of 10 percent charged.
