One of the things I have appreciated as an entrepreneur is learning to get value for my money. Every shilling you spend is a cost to the business. As a startup, you learn to be frugal with how you spend and in the same breath; you learn to look for the best deals in town.
In my recurrent budget, there are things that I will always pay every month, whether I managed to sell or not. These are rent for the business premise, employees, utilities like electricity, water and telephone bills.
Today I want to touch on the telephone bills that are always in our business budgets. We live in a world that is constantly changing and if you are in business, you know how important it is to keep in touch with customers , sales people as well as partners. You also know how important it is to be online to learn and connect with your peers as well as business people in your industry.
So, just how much are you supposed to pay for communication. I took the liberty to compare what you pay and what you deserve to pay, based on what our local telcos are offering. I will compare the minimum you can get on a daily basis , a weekly basis and on a monthly basis from our service providers and let you be the judge.
Data Bundles
We all need to be online. Whether it’s on social media, reading articles or downloading music, we are all looking for value for our money. We spend more hours online than before especially with the current mobile penetration in Kenya. How much should you be charged for data bundles?
Aritel With a daily fee Ksh 20, you can access 20MBs of data bundles. A weekly fee of 50 will get you access to 65MB s . With a monthly fee of Ksh 500, you will access 1.5GB of data bundles and once they run out, you can access Whatsapp, Facebook and Twitter.
Safaricom With a daily fee of Ksh 20, you can access to 35MBs for your data bundles. A weekly fee of Ksh 50 will get you access to 65MBs. For Ksh 500 a month, you will only access to 1GB of data bundles.
Call rates
Well, this is a no brainer. Calls are important in business, because through calls, you get instant feedback from whomever you are calling. There are clients who want to talk and talk, and there are friends who want to catch up on phone. All in all, we do not want the embarrassment of running out of airtime in the middle of a serious conversation. So what are the charges here?
Airtel The UnlimiNet package allows you to call at Ksh 1.67 across all netwroks. With the minimum of Ksh 20, you will have access to 8 minutes of talk time to all networks. If you choose the minimum weekly package of Ksh 50, you will get 10 minutes of talk time. For Ksh 500 a month, you will access 100 minutes of talk across networks.
Safaricom Safaricom has a standard fee of Ksh 4.00 across networks.This means that for Ksh 20, you will only talk for 5 minutes. For the weekly charge of Ksh 50, you will talk for 12.5 minutes and for Ksh 500, you will have 125 minutes across networks.
SMS
From the above, I will be honest. With the introduction of Whatsapp, not many of us are into texting. However, if you have clients who do not have smart phones, the only way you will communicate on a budget is through SMS.
Airtel A daily fee Ksh 20, will get you 20 Sms. A weekly fee of Ksh 50 will get you 50 Sms. A monthly fee of 500, will get you 500 sms.
Safaricom A daily fee of Ksh 20, will get you 35 Sms. A weekly charge of 50, will get you 50 sms and with a monthly fee of 500, Ksh 500, you can get 500 sms.
From the two, I will definitely pick the monthly plan from Airtel, as it gives me 500Mbs extra with access to Facebook, Whatsapp and Twitter once my data bundles run out. It will take me on for longer and I am not restricted on what I can browse on a day to day basis at impressive speeds of 256kbps. I can also enjoy Ksh 1.67 per minute calls across network. I will not have to worry about running out of airtime when i am talking to my clients. I will also stay connected with the world whenever.
Check what the Unliminet package offers you. What works best for you?
which works best for you?
