With the signing of the Finance Act by President Uhuru Kenyatta, new tax rates have become official effective 1st July 2021. Excise duty has increased from 15% to 20%. And that means very many companies will need to readjust prices of different services and commodities over time to be able to absorb the charges.
You’ve definitely received texts from different companies informing you of the changes. In the telecommunications industry, Safaricom, Airtel, and Telkom have already communicated the changes users can expect with these new tax rates.
The tables below will breakdown the new taxes as per what has been communicated, and will be updated over time as more information becomes available.
Safaricom rates after taxes:
| Service | Before (KES) | After new taxes (KES) |
| Home Fibre | Old Packages here | New Packages here. |
| Post Pay | Post pay packages here | Out of bundle customers to be affected Communication on extra charges to be shared |
| Calls (peak) | 3.50 Peak 1.80 Off-peak | 4.87 Peak 2.50 Off-peak |
| SMS | 0.86 | 1.20 |
| Data without bundle | 3.50 | 4.87 per MB |
| M-Shwari | 7.5% Fee | 9% Fee |
| KCB M-Pesa | 7.35% Fee | 8.64% Fee |
| Fuliza | 1% Access Fee | 1% Access Fee + 20% Excise Duty on Daily Fees |
The changes mostly affect customers when they’re out of a bundle. So for example, if you are browsing data out of a bundle, you will now pay more per MB than before. And this cuts across all tariffs, including Post Pay customers who may be out of bundle.
Storo Bonus, Okoa Jahazi and all other offers will also include the new taxes.
We may see new bundle prices over the coming months, however this hasn’t been communicated, and perhaps the communicated changes will be enough to absorb the extra taxes.
Read more on Safaricom changes here.
Airtel Kenya rates after taxes:
| Service | Before (KES) | After new taxes (KES) |
| Calls | KES 2 per minute KES 4 per minute | KES 2.78 per minute to all networks KES 4.5 per minute to all networks (to join the 2.78 per minute tariff, dial *544*2#) |
| SMS | 0.86 | 1.20 |
| Post Pay | July Bill to include 20% Excise Duty | |
| Data without bundle | 5 per MB | 5 per MB |
Airtel has said apart form the changes above, voice, SMS, and Data bundles prices remain same. As with the rest, we still may see bundle prices change in the future. Read more on Airtel’s changes here.
Telkom Kenya rates after taxes:
| Service | After new taxes (KES) |
| Calls | 2.78 Telkom to Telkom 4.30 Telkom to other Networks |
| SMS | 1.15 Telkom to all networks |
| Data without bundle | 4.50 per MB |
Also, as with Airtel and Safaricom, Telkom customers using a bundle won’t be affected by these changes. Read more on Telkom’s changes here.
