Safaricom enhances roaming services

Safaricom, Kenya's largest mobile phone service provider, has enhanced its roaming services for customers in the East African region by introducing PrePay top-up service.

Through PrePay, customers can top up using airtime from partner networks in Uganda (Uganda Telecom), Tanzania (Vodacom) and Rwanda (MTN). In the past, customers roaming within the region had to purchase phone credit from Safaricom dealers, which was usually more expensive.

"When in Tanzania, subscribers can top up with Vodacom scratch cards, and in Uganda, they can top up with MTN and UTL [Uganda Telecom] scratch cards," said Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph.

Uganda Telecom has launched a <a href="http://www.computerworld.co.ug/articles/2008/09/10/uganda-telecom-launches-new-borderless-service" target="_blank">similar service</a> with Safaricom as a partner network.

Safaricom's regional roaming service was introduced in February 2007 to allow subscribers to move freely across the three countries without additional charges. The service originally targeted business travelers in the region.