Safaricom’s B-LIVE introduces pay-by-the-hour mobile internet. Prices, how to buy, and what to expect. — Fawzia Ali-Kimanthi, Chief Consumer Business Officer, Safaricom PLC.

It feels like just yesterday when Safaricom introduced the B-Live product, giving Kenyans a much-needed break from volume-based data anxiety with time-based, uncapped browsing. As we inch closer to its one-year anniversary this coming August, it seems Kenya’s leading telco is actively tweaking the formula behind the scenes.

If you head over to Safaricom’s official FAQs page right now, the company maintains a very strict stance on the product: B-Live is exclusively for browsing the internet. The officially documented tiers reflect this, offering validity periods based purely on data usage:

KES 20 = B-Live for 1 hour
KES 30 = B-Live for 1.5 hours
KES 50 = B-Live for 3 hours
KES 75 = B-Live for 4.5 hours
KES 150 = B-Live for 6 hours

However, as someone who constantly monitors our local telco offerings to sniff out the best value for Techish readers, I decided to run through the usual USSD channels over the long weekend. I immediately noticed that Safaricom has quietly slipped a major upgrade into the B-Live menu.

When pulling up the B-Live data bundles on the dialer, the menu has been restructured. While the lower tiers remain dedicated to browsing, a brand new option has appeared:

KES 100 = Browse and Call for 4.5hrs

Here is exactly how the active USSD menu looks right now on my phone:

KES 30 = Browse for 90 Mins
KES 50 = Browse for 180 Mins
KES 75 = Browse for 4.5 Hours
KES 100 = Browse and Call for 4.5hrs

Previously, if you wanted 4.5 hours of uninterrupted internet, you would part with KES 75. Now, for an extra KES 25, Safaricom is throwing voice calls into the mix for that exact same duration.

This silent rollout is a brilliant retention play. Time-based bundles are massively popular among heavy internet users, gamers, and students who want to consume heavy media without worrying about their megabytes running out. But the glaring pain point has always been isolation. If a phone call came through or you needed to urgently call someone back, you had to ensure you had separate airtime or a voice bundle loaded.

By bundling voice calls into the KES 100 B-Live tier, Safaricom is essentially testing the waters for an all-in-one, time-based digital pass. It bridges the gap between the heavy data user and the traditional mobile caller, ensuring you stay fully connected on all fronts for those four and a half hours.

While Safaricom is yet to update its official portal to reflect this new combo, the option is currently live and functional on the network. We will be keeping an eye out to see if voice functionality eventually trickles down to the cheaper 1-hour and 3-hour tiers.

Have you spotted the new B-Live data and voice combo on your line yet? Let us know your experience in the comments below!