Kenyans and free things

When Safaricom announced a KSh19 billion profit, it also said we could call free from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., provided you load KSh100 of air time during the day.

On the first day, making calls was not that hard, but the next week, it was hell. No call was going through. Many wondered why Safaricom was giving such an offer if the system could not handle the number of calls.

People could not make urgent calls late at night, while other callers woke up at 3 a.m. just to make free calls. It was chaos. You can imagine someone waking up at 3 a.m. just to make free calls.

If Michael Joseph thought Kenyans would relent, he was wrong. The network was so congested that Safaricom was on the verge of losing customers to its rival Celtel.

Of course, MJ says Safaricom subscribers are loyal, but he can no longer take such consolation. Celtel is now offering viable solutions.

Perhaps that is why the free call time-line was pushed to between 11p.m. and 6 a.m., making sure that those who love freebies stay up longer hours.

And, if the hours are pushed to 2 a.m., we will still be up to make free calls. Because we love freebies.