SafaricomGiga bundle, a great product out of necessity? Techrunda.

After a success of Airtel's daily 1 GB at ksh.99 and the introduction of Telkom Kenya's 1 GB + 1 GB 4G daily bundle for the same price, Safaricom Kenya had no option but to Join the game,with it's 1 Gb Giga bundle at ksh.99 daily, valid for 24 hours.
What could be the possible reason?According to statistical data from the Communications Authority Of Kenya published April 2018, Safaricom registered a drop of 2.8% in it's market dominance, from 71.9% to 69.1%, while Airtel Kenya improved from 14.9%to 17.2% and Telkom Kenya recorded a 0.6% improvement from 8.4 to 9.0%.
These changes, to me, were greatly contributed by the need for cheaper products, especially data, something Airtel Kenya and Telkom  have been doing good so far.
Kenyans are now consuming a lot of internet products and services, from social media, education,entertainment online shopping and banking including online media streaming and downloads.
This made data the new competition field, which each company trying to outdo the other with cheaper data.
In order to remain relevant and competitive on data business, safaricom reluctantly introduced the giga bundle

How to purchase the 1 Gb  Giga bundle.
This offer is available on various platforms, and to buy the daily giga bundle you can choose any as follows:

• Dial *544# and select option 3. or option 1 under the daily internet bundles.( this has since moved to option 5 under *544#.
• Dial * 444# and select option 1 under Tunukiwa internet. 

On My Safaricom app, under Tunukiwa. This has also been moved to the first option under data and SMS plans

What kenyans think about this product?
I visited safaricom official Facebook page to see Kenya's reactions about this offer,and from the lack of any complaints was a clear indication that many people feel satisfied. One user had raised a concern that her bundles ran out before the end of the 24 hours, but safaricom gave her a good response, that data usage is by volume and not duration.
However, many Kenyans seem to be confusing the daily 1 GB Giga bundle and the new Giga football pass.

What you might not have known about this offer.

1. The daily 1 Gb  bundle, though available under the daily data plans on *544#, does not come with free SMS like other daily bundles.
2. The validity of this offer, cannot be extended by purchasing another bundle.For example, you can buy the daily 150 mb at Ksh.50 and if you buy any weekly plan before the end of 24 hour period, you have extended the daily 150 mb for a period of 1 week. I tried this with the Giga bundle but never worked. So, what happens if you don't exhaust all your data before  24 hours? Well,you just have to buy another bundle.
3. If you are a safaricom customer, then you must be familiar with Safaricom Storo, where you get free airtime once you reach your daily storo target. The airtime can be used for calls or SMS on net only. Let's say your storo limit is ksh.100, then if you were to buy the Giga bundle for Ksh. 99, then you would need to just send a single SMS and you get your 100 worth storo bonus.Well, something you should know is that the daily Giga bundle does not contribute towards your daily storo bonus.

The above observations are a clear indication that  the daily Giga bundle is not a permanent daily data plan and is more of a Tunukiwa offer. This shows that Safaricom had to have this offer out of competition, and feel that by offering this service they are rewarding their consumers just like how they do with storo bonus, bonga points or Tunukiwa offers.

To imagine that this is the cheapest data offer from Safaricom, is a clear indication that Kenyans are still paying a lot when it comes to data.
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