Safaricom’s “No Expiry” data bundle of KSh 51, which previously delivered 255 MB, suddenly supplied only 102 MB last week of November 2025. A KSh 100 bundle dropped from 500 MB to 200 MB. And the KSh 250 bundle, once yielding 1 GB, was slashed to 500 MB.
The catch: the price remained the same. For many customers, often already grappling with economic pressures, this was effectively a stealth price increase. What made matters worse was the silence. There was no prior announcement, no email, no SMS alert. The change simply appeared, and many only discovered the reduction when their data ran out unexpectedly.
Safaricom has since told the media and its customers that the reduction was caused by a technical issue, not an intentional reprice, and that it has restored the original bundle allocations. The telco also confirmed that customers who received less data were refunded the missing balance, for example, customers who were credited the 153 MB difference after receiving 102 MB instead of 255 MB for the KSh 51 bundle.
Affected subscribers received SMS from Safaricom, “Dear customer, the issue with your non-expiry bundles is fixed and extra bundles added. We apologise for the inconvenience. Dial *544# to check balance.”
The resolution, the refunds, and the admission that the incident arose from a technical fault are important and welcome outcomes. They bring immediate redress to customers who paid for a specified amount of data and did not receive it.
With a 62.8% market share in Kenya’s mobile broadband market, Safaricom has over 48 million active users. For many Kenyans, students, freelancers, small-scale entrepreneurs, and families stretching tight household budgets, data is not a luxury. It is a lifeline for education, communication, and commerce. A silent cut in bundle value effectively amounted to a hidden price hike, undermining affordability and planning.
That reality cannot be overlooked, even if the cut was genuinely due to a technical glitch. In a market where one provider controls a dominant share, as Safaricom does with mobile broadband, such unilateral changes, even if temporary, carry enormous consequences for millions of users.
Regulators and consumer-rights advocates should view this episode as a warning. It reinforces the need for clear rules that require any changes to data allocation or pricing to be communicated transparently and in advance.
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