Safaricom Explains Why It Limited Free Reverse Calls For Customers: "To Curb Abuse"

• A customer identified as John Lee on Facebook asked why Safaricom reduced the frequency of free reverse calls
• While responding to the question posed by the subscriber, the telecommunications company noted the service was prone to abuse
• The reverse call feature helps Safaricom subscribers complete calls or request one in cases of limited or zero airtime

TUKO.co.ke journalist Japhet Ruto has over eight years of experience in financial, business, and technology reporting and offers profound insights into Kenyan and global economic trends.

Safaricom has clarified why it limited free reverse calls for customers.

Why Safaricom limited free reverse calls

A customer identified as John Lee on the Meta-owned platform asked why the telco reduced the frequency of free reverse calls.

"Safaricom, why did you interfere with reverse calls?" Lee posed.

While replying to a question posed by a subscriber on Facebook, the telecommunications company noted the service was prone to abuse.

"Sorry, we revised the reverse call rules in order curb abuse of the service, customers will be billed KSh 0.50 on the third reverse call request of the day but will not incur any other costs while using the service for the rest of the day," the telco explained.

How Safaricom reverse call service works

Safaricom rolled out the reverse call feature on June 18, 2019.

The service allows customers to call with or without airtime, and the receiver pays on the caller’s behalf.

It enables a caller to transfer the cost of the call to the receiver by adding ‘#’ before the number they are calling.

It joined the list of other methods, such as Please Call Me and Okoa Jahazi, that help users complete calls or request one in case they have limited or zero airtime.

How many Kenyans rely on reverse call and Fuliza airtime?

In its 2024 annual report, the telco noted it was leveraging its call completion innovations for its customers.

Safaricom revealed that two million customers used reverse calls, over 800k customers relied on the three-second free call, and over one million customers used the Fuliza airtime plans.

During the period under review, Safaricom's voice revenue dropped from KSh 80.9 billion in the financial year 2023 to KSh 79.5 billion in the financial year 2024.

Safaricom PLC Sustainability Report 2023 showed Kenyans borrowed over KSh 19 billion worth of airtime from Fuliza.

The value of Fuliza disbursed for the year ending March 2023 grew by 39.6% to KSh 701.5 billion. M-Pesa revenue increased by 8.8% to KSh 117.2 billion during the same period under review.

Proofreading by Asher Omondi, current affairs journalist and copy editor at TUKO.co.ke.