This archive report was first published on 3 July 2021.
On July 2, 2021, President Uhuru Kenyatta signed the 2021 Finance bill into law, increasing the excise duty on telephone and internet data services from 15% to 20%.
As a result, Airtel Kenya, Safaricom, and Telkom Kenya have increased their call rates. Airtel subscribers will now pay Ksh 4.5 per minute, while Telkom Kenya subscribers will pay Ksh 2.78 per minute.
According to a text message sent to Airtel subscribers, "Dear customer due to an increase in Excise Duty from 15% to 20% from 2nd July, your call rate is now Ksh 4.5 per minute. SMS and Data rates remain the same."
Similarly, Telkom Kenya posted to its clients, "Dear customer due to an increase in Excise Duty from 15% to 20% from 2nd July, your call rate is now Ksh 2.78 per minute. SMS and Data rates remain the same."
The increased excise duty has generated over Ksh8 billion for the government from Safaricom, Airtel, and Telkom, Kenya's leading telcos.
When the government increased the excise duty by 5%, the telcos also increased the cost of services to factor in taxes. Safaricom raised its call rate by 30 cents and SMS by 10 cents.
Other service providers, such as Zuku, have also increased their prices. The cost of Zuku's 10mbps package was raised to Sh3,999 from Sh3,500, while those who were paying for the Sh4,198 package had to part with Sh4,598.
