I was reviewing my usage of the various services that my mobile network operators offer at the start of the year. That moment of reflection had me embarking on a disastrous 31-day experiment last month before I finally settled on something else. What has been visible over the last few years has been how dynamic I have become and how my habits have changed, mostly without me realizing or taking keen note. Yet my usage eventually ends up dictating how I go about things.
The same must be true for everyone, I guess (I could be wrong). Within a span of months, I have moved from being the guy targeted by Safaricom’s youth-focused sub-brand, Blaze (which I never really bought into, anyway), to the person who can be catered to by something else. Like Flex or the new kid on the block, Safaricom Platinum.
On the latter, there should be a pause. It’s a product that is specifically targeting high-value customers and is part of Safaricom’s segmentation of its customer base so that it is able to provide products and services that directly address the needs of every one of its 28 million subscribers. That can be reflected in what Platinum is promising its users: things like the very rare ability to make international calls and being billed as part of the package, discounts at eateries and petrol stations and offers for events and travel (including access to business lounges at airports).
According to Safaricom’s director of consumer business, Sylvia Mulinge, “Platinum is targeted at the discerning professionals, who form 17% of the total Safaricom customer base and are known to spend a lot of time online. That’s why data is a big focus with this new offering, because these subscribers are looking for plans that accommodate their usage and fit into their lifestyles.”
Even with that in mind, Platinum is open to all Safaricom subscribers. Anyone can join.
Safaricom Platinum is available for Kshs 2,000, 3,000, 5,000 and 10,000 every month in the various plans that are available for subscribers to choose from.
Safaricom Platinum plans
As you will note from the above graphic, there’s Platinum and Platinum Plus. Here’s the difference according to Safaricom:
Customers have two options when they sign up for Platinum: Platinum Plus and Platinum. Platinum Plus is a monthly plan that comes with data limits of up to 40GB and 4,000 voice minutes, while Platinum allows subscribers to consume and renew their subscriptions as they go, using airtime or M-PESA, with up to 30GB of data and 3,000 voice minutes depending on the subscription value.
The other perks of Safaricom Platinum
Other than the unlimited number of SMSs that one is able to send on any of the Platinum plans and the other perks outlined above, subscribers who opt in to Platinum will also get a “personal bill manager” who “files all the customer’s bills in one place”.
How to join
As if to reflect the kind of people that Safaricom is targeting with Platinum, there is only one way to join Platinum: the mySafaricom application.
The mySafaricom app has been updated to include Platinum in version 1.3.0.3. If you haven’t, yet, updated it, head over to the Play Store and do so. After updating, you should be able to see “Platinum Plans” just below Tunukiwa. Clicking on it takes one through the steps necessary to join Platinum, including the same details shared above of the different Platinum plans.
