Kenyans begin to feel the effects of The Finance Act 2018 with increase in Internet Prices

The Kenyan Finance Act 2018 that was signed on 21-Sep-18 was a controversial one for many reasons. For one, people only focused on the price of fuel that was going to increase by 8%. That wasn’t the only sector that was going to be affected. This Act also introduced a 15% Excise Duty on internet data among a few other things and Kenyans are just now beginning to feel the pinch.

Many ISPs in the country and a couple of Telecos have already revised their tariffs upwards and many more are expected to do the same to meet the 15% tax that the government now expects. Here are some of the operators and their new rates.

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Safaricom

Safaricom, Kenya’s biggest teleco wasted no time in imposing the new tax and passing down the cost to the consumer. As a result, several of their products saw a massive jump in prices, from their Platinum packages to Safaricom Home. Here are Safaricom’s new rates.

Packages Current Price New Price
Bronze 2500 2900
Bronze Plus 3000 3400
Silver 3499 3999
Silver Plus 4499 4999
Gold 4999 5699
Gold Plus 5999 6699
Platinum 9999 11499
Platinum Plus 10999 12499

Also Read: Safaricom Home Fiber; Plans, Pricing and a few things you need to know

Knowing Kenyans, a hike in prices like this is expected to affect the rate of new subscriptions for Safaricom Fiber, which remains 2nd in the fixed data market with 63,567 subscriptions as of March this year, according to data from the Communication Authority of Kenya.

Zuku Fiber

To comply with The Finance Act 2018 that changed how services like Internet services are taxed, Zuku has increased the excise duty to 15% up from 10% and this also applies to fiber services. Zuku reviewed their Fiber pricing and this is their new rates:

Service Old Price New Price
5Mbps 2199 2499
10Mbps 3499 3999
30Mbps 4999 5299
50Mbps 6199 6799
100Mbps 9999 11299
250Mbps 19999 22499

Also Read: Zuku Fiber service packages and prices in Kenya


Zuku is taking a slightly different approach. The company has revealed that it will absorb the excise duty for your fiber packages. For new customers, this will include a free installation.

Jamii Telecom Faiba

Jamii Telecom Faiba packages for Home are unchanged and according to the company, the taxes are inclusive so there are no additional cost to be passed down to the consumer. Faiba Business customers aren’t as lucky however. The 15% excise duty has been added directly to their current package rates. Here are the new rates.

Package Old Prices New prices
Business 15 10,000 13,340
Business 25 15,000 20,100
Business 40 25,000 33,350
Business 60 30,000 40,020
Business 75 40,000 53,360
Business 100 55,000 73,370

According to Communications Authority of Kenya, Jamii Telecom had a market share of 11% with over 36,000 subscriptions as of March 2018.

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