Safaricom Rolls Out New 0110, 0111 Mobile Prefixes, Free SIM Cards

Safaricom has announced the roll out of new mobile number prefixes 0110 and 0111.

The telco will also give out free SIM cards in all their shops, but will need to be activated with a Ksh50 airtime. Its competitors, Airtel and Telkom has also been giving out free SIM cards, with subscribers required to activate them with Ksh50 airtime.

Customers will also be allowed choose their own number rather than the traditional pre-assigned mobile phone numbers.

The new prefixes were allocated by the Communications Authority of Kenya in 2019 after the exhaustion of the 07XX prefixes.

Other Safaricom prefixes include 070X, 071X, 072X, 074X, 0757, 0758, 0759, 0768, 0769 and 079X.

Read: Safaricom Sues East African Data Handlers Over Ksh20 Million Loss

This comes a few days after Safaricom announced that it is launching 5G network in the country, making it the first in East Africa.

Acting CEO Michael Joseph said the firm had completed testing and trials for the upgraded network.

Safaricom controls approximately 63.5 percent of the Kenyan mobile phone market as at June 30, 2019, according to the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA). Safaricom had a subscriber base estimated at approximately 31.8 million. In terms of voice market and SMS market share Safaricom controls 56.8 percent and 95.5 percent respectively.

Airtel, the number two telco in terms of market share is seeking to merge operations with Telkom, the third largest telco in the country.