Kenya’s leading telco, Safaricom, has rolled out new phone number prefixes to meet increasing demand for its lines.
The new numbers are available free of charge with customers only required to activate their lines with a minimal airtime.
Currently, the service provider has over 35.6 million customers in Kenya whose population was 53.7 million as per the 2019 census.
The new prefix numbers are – 0111, 0112, 0113, 0114, 0115.
They were introduced nine months after Safaricom introduced two new prefix numbers. Customers choose the phone number they wish.
The move is part of the company’s customer initiatives to mark 20 years since it was launched.
Launching the numbers, Safaricom CEO, Peter Ndegwa, said the move will help meet a strong demand for the firm’s services.
The demand, which is strongly driven by new mobile data customers, has seen the company introduce ‘4G for Home’ internet that consists of a 4G enabled SIM card and a 4G router.
The 4G+ helps take advantage of high speed home internet in areas outside the company’s home fibre coverage.
With the unveiling of the new prefixes, Safaricom now has the capacity to add an extra 4 million customers to its network.
By December 2018, Kenya’s mobile telephony penetration had crested the 100 per cent mark.