Insights At a Glance:
- Airtel Kenya’s Smarta Bundles offer great value but start at KES 1,000 — double the entry price of Safaricom’s All in One bundles.
- Safaricom now offers a KES 500 monthly bundle with solid value, while Airtel lacks a budget-tier Smarta option.
- A “Smarta 500” — with half the benefits of the KES 1,000 plan — would better align with Airtel’s affordable brand image and appeal to more users.
Earlier this year, Airtel Kenya introduced its Smarta Bundles — bold, value-packed monthly plans priced at KES 1,000 and KES 1,500. With generous allocations like 45–90GB of data, 400–900 all-network minutes, and thousands of SMS, Airtel clearly aimed to challenge Safaricom’s All in One bundles head-on.
And to be fair, they’re great value.
But here’s the irony: the company that’s long packaged itself as the cheaper but still reliable alternative to Safaricom… now has more expensive entry-level bundles than Safaricom itself. In 2025, value isn’t just about how much you get. It’s about how much you need to cough up to get anything at all. And on that front, Airtel is seriously missing a trick.
Let’s rewind a bit. When Safaricom launched its All in One bundles, it too started at KES 1,000. Fast-forward to today, and they’ve adapted to the times — introducing a KES 500 tier that gives you 2GB of data, 100 minutes, 500 SMS, and free WhatsApp. That’s a full-service monthly plan at half the price of Airtel’s cheapest Smarta Bundle.
Airtel, on the other hand, has kept its Smarta line at KES 1,000 and up. For a company that shaped its Kenyan identity on affordability, this feels off-brand. Yes, the KES 1,000 Smarta package gives more bang for your buck than Safaricom’s KES 1,000 equivalent — but you still need to spend KES 1,000 to access it. That’s a whole leap for someone living on a tight budget.
Sure, Airtel also has monthly UnlimiNET plans starting from KES 400. But if we’re being honest, those don’t hold a candle to even half of what the base Smarta bundle option offers.
What Airtel needs right now is a Smarta 500.
The easiest approach? Just halve what’s already in the Smarta 1,000 bundle. That means:
22.5GB of data (about 750MB per day), 200 all-network minutes, 1000 Airtel-to-Airtel minutes, and 1000 SMS — all valid for 30 days. Throw in free WhatsApp too while you’re at it.
Simple, clean, and affordable — not just better value, but better priced. That would speak directly to the millions of Kenyans who need more utility for less money, not just more GBs for a bigger budget.
Because if Safaricom — long perceived as the premium (read: pricey) option — can offer a KES 500 All in One bundle, what’s stopping Airtel?
Dear Airtel, it’s time to walk the affordability talk. The market is ready. The people are waiting. Bring on the Smarta 500.
What do you think?
Should Airtel Kenya launch a cheaper Smarta Bundle to match Safaricom’s KES 500 All in One option? Let us know in the comments or vote in the poll below!
NOTE: The article will be updated with poll results after a week of voting.
