If you have been with Safaricom for 12 years, you probably started out with the mobile prefix number 072 back in the year 2000. So much happened within that first year, the first edition of the Lewa Marathon was held; with 55 participants taking part. The first Safaricom scratch cards were introduced and the network expanded its network from Nairobi to Naivasha and Gilgil. The introduction of per second call billing happened in 2000 as well, turning the tide against Kencell.
The 072 free calls loyalty offer is probably the first Safaricom customer reward scheme. It awarded customers with local airtime minutes.
In 2001, Safaricom became the first mobile service provider in the country to introduce roaming services. The same year also saw further expansion of its network to parts of the Coastal region, Eldoret and Nyeri. This expansion saw the number of Safaricom subscribers grow to 100,000.The KES 250 scratch card, dubbed The Green Card was also unveiled in the same year, becoming the lowest value airtime scratch card in the market.
Compare that to today’s 10 bob cards.
With continued rapid growth of subscriber base, Safaricom switched from 072 to 0722 in 2002 then introduced 0721 as well. By the close of 2002, Safaricom network covered the entire road network from Nairobi to Mombasa, and had hit a subscriber base of 520,000.
Come 2003, while the rest of us were still basking in a new regime Safaricom was partnering with ad-tel to come up with the Simu Ya Jamii. The same year saw the establishment of the Safaricom Foundation, a registered charity fund that provides a formal process for charitable contributions to communities, community groups and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs).
2003 also saw the launch of Safaricoms’ data service introduction of the KES 100 Safaricom scratch card. The number of subscribers had doubled within a span of one year to hit the 1,000,000 subscribers mark leading to the introduction of the 0720 prefix.
Still in 2003 the price of a Safaricom line dropped to KES 99.
2004 was the year former Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph was named CEO of the year, at the Company of the Year Awards. 2004 also saw further expansion of Safaricom to Mandera and also saw the launch of Safaricom’s mobile data service.
The year 2005 saw the unveiling of Safaricoms’ Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) and the introduction of Flash-back 130.
As part of its social corporate responsibility, Safaricom launched the Safaricom Sports person of the Year Award (SOYA) in 2005 which appreciates the exemplary series of performance in various sports disciplines.
By the close of 2005, Safaricom had hit 3 million subscribers.
Safaricom moved to its new custom designed corporate headquarters on Waiyaki Way in 2006. And that about sums up their activities.
2007 was a very eventful year for Safaricom. M-Pesa, a mobile money transfer service and Bonga Points, a customer loyalty reward scheme, were launched. The year also saw the introduction of the Kabambe phone and the unveiling of Blackberry in Kenya by Safaricom.
Safaricom was awarded the 3G license by the communications regulator (CCK) and by the end of that year safaricom’s had hit the 6,000,000 subscriber base leading to the exhaustion of the 072.. prefix and led to the introduction of the 071.. prefix.
By 2009, Safaricom had five million registered users and had gone live on the fiber optic cable. The company also sponsored the Safari Sevens rugby tournament for the first time and introduced the KES 10 and KES 5 denomination scratch cards.
In early 2010 Safaricom launched Niko na Safaricom campaign which signified a celebration of our Kenyanness, portraying Safaricom as a brand for everybody. Sakata Ball challenge was also launched at around the same time.
Some of the value added services unveiled in 2010 include:
- Skiza – Ring back tone service
- 191 Directory service where users call an operator who then gives them the number or address they request for.
- Get it 411 service allows one to request information by sending as SMS message to 411
- M-Pesa ticketing
2010 saw a revamping of Safaricom website giving it a new look that’s more comprehensive and easier to navigate. By this time Safaricom had over 3,000 employees with it’s M-Pesa service being recognized at the Mobile Money awards in Dubai.
In October 2010 Michael Joseph left Safaricom and was replaced by Bob Collymore.
In January 2011 Safaricom slashed its SMS rates by 71 per cent. On-net SMS rates have since cost KES 1 while off net SMS cost KES 2. In 2011 M-Pesa won the Mobile Money for the Unbanked Award in the Global Mobile awards. M-Pesa also went global via an alliance with Western Union established in March 2011.
Safaricom slashed its internet bundle prices by 150% in June 2012 and introduced a new billing system that caters for both prepaid and postpaid customers. In the new system prepaid customers got their bills in real time, no longer having to wait till the end of the month to get their bill.
In early 2012 Safaricom adjusted its M-Pesa tariff, furthering lowering the transaction limit to KES 10 though scrapped off its unlimited internet data plan in April 2012.
Safaricom became the first telecom in East Africa to launch a sustainability report, identifying major sustainability risks and detailing the proactive measures that the company is taking to ensure a better tomorrow for future generations.
It would be interesting to see what Safaricom has in store for unlucky number 13.