Safaricom Doubles SIM Card Prices On New Taxes

[Analogia Malenga]

Telecoms operator Safaricom has doubled the price of SIM cards to reflect the impact of new taxes.

Consumers will from Friday pay Ksh.100 for a SIM card purchase from Ksh.50 previously following the introduction of a Ksh.50 excise duty on imported SIM cards through the 2022 Fianance Act.

Nevertheless, the telco operator will offer a Ksh.50 airtime first top up to customers in a move to offset the introduction of the new excise duty.

At the same time, Safaricom says it will raise phone prices to reflect the introduction of a 10 per cent excise tax on imported phones which is also part of the 2022 Finance Act.

New phone prices will also reflect the impact of a 25 per cent import duty on phones as part of the East African Community Common External Tariff (CET).

“Phone prices will be adjusted to include the 10% excise tax and 25% import duty as existing stock levels are replaced with new stock on which the new taxes apply,” Safaricom said in a statement on Thursday.

Source: Citizen Kenya

 

[DarrenLowe12]

I saw the news about Safaricom doubling SIM card prices because of new taxes. It's frustrating, especially when we're all trying to keep our costs down. It seems like these companies always find a way to squeeze a bit more out of us. I've been hearing some chatter about eSIMs, especially how they're more common in Europe. They seem pretty convenient – no physical card to worry about, potentially cheaper in the long run, and all that jazz. Do you think you'd give Esim Europe a shot if they catch on here?Anyway, fingers crossed that the telcos chill out with these extra charges soon. It's like they're always finding new ways to make us dig deeper into our pockets! Let's hope for some relief sooner rather than later.