Airtel Kenya targets unbanked population with free transactions, expanded services

In its strategy, the telco has maintained a free Airtel-to-Airtel transaction cost, with their customers set to receive a cashback offer on all transaction fees as airtime when using Airtel Paybill services, while those withdrawing from agents will get their withdrawal fees refunded as airtime.

According to the telco, competition should only be on service offering.

"It doesn’t mean that transactions in this country must be so high for us to make money, okay? If you are paying at any of the PayBill services, there is a charge. That charge doesn’t have to be that high. We are still making money while being affordable."

"If you're going to withdraw, there is also a charge. That charge, even now that we are saying you're being given back, you're being given back as airtime, which then provides value to customers," said Airtel Money CEO Ann Kinuthia Otieno.

Airtel Kenya CEO Ashish Malhotra added: "I would want every customer to have an alternative and an alternative that gives the best value. Nobody is new to mobile money in this country. It’s one of the countries that has mobile money penetration pretty decently, and well-established. So for me, it's about giving it a chance, giving it a shot. You have a value proposition in the market."

The telco, which has been a strong proponent of mobile money interoperability to push for a more inclusive financial ecosystem, has increased its presence across the country, boasting over 2 million merchant outlets, with more investment set to be channelled into widening its footprint countrywide.

"I will say that at the moment, 93 to 93.5 per cent of the country is covered by the Airtel network, and we have moved quite a distance in the last two and a half years. We are not done yet. We are continuously investing in the country. We are just closing our plans for the coming year and rolling out more and more networks," added Ashish Malhotra.

Additionally, in an effort to woo more customers, the telco has introduced new data and voice products, with customers now set to access 30 gigabytes of data for 1,000, with room to roll over their unused data into the new month upon renewal.

The company is also offering 400 free Airtel-to-Airtel minutes and 2,000 SMS to all networks, appealing to budget-conscious consumers.