Orange Kenya moves to extend the unlimited data bundle

Local data and Voice service provider, Orange Kenya has moved to re-launch their unlimited data offer. The offer which initially expired on 5th February has now been extended. The first offer from Orange was more of a reactionary move to Safaricom after Safaricom launched an unlimited data offer of Ksh 999 per week. The initial adverts on Safaricom offer listed 8th as the date of expiry but that might have been intentional or “by mistake” as one senior manager at Safaricom told me.

Instead of the Safaricom offer expiring on 8th February as listed in initial adverts, Safaricom went ahead and said they have no definite expiry date or their unlimited data offer.

Speaking during the announcement of the new offer, Telkom Kenya Chief Executive Officer Mickael Ghossein said that it is open to all the clients on the four data platforms that the company provides, namely the 1X, GPRS, EDGE and 3G+ (EVDO).

With Internet usage picking up tremendously, Telkom Kenya saw the need to give customers a pre determined plan which could allow them to surf and download for a whole week without having to top up their credit mid way for only Kshs. 990.

In this case, Telkom customers can buy the unlimited weekly access for a standard rate. “We are doing this to address the market of heavy Internet users populated by internet bloggers, information technology experts and corporate employees who spend a lot of time surfing and downloading,” explained Ghossein.

And added; “We are also cognizant of the fact that many Internet users want access without raking up huge bills so we have designed a service that suits their pockets.”

For prepaid customers who are the key target, the offer price retails at Ksh 1499 for the Internet Everywhere (1X/GPRS/EDGE) modems and Ksh 1999 for the Internet Everywhere 3G+ (EVDO) modems respectively.

To subscribe to the service customers are required to send the following text message #123#unlimited to 430 for Internet Everywhere (1X, Edge & GPRS). For customers using the Internet Everywhere 3G+ modem, they are advised to register online at the Orange Internet portal where they will input their user names and password. This will give them the menu from where they can purchase the 7 day unlimited Internet access bundle.