Safaricom, Kenya’s leading mobile network operator, has unveiled its latest promotion that aims to encourage customers to enjoy discounts of up to 75 per cent on calling charges.

Dubbed Wakenya Tuongee (Kenyans let’s talk), the new promotion will run between July 24 and August 23, 2012. The company said subscribers will only pay Sh4 for the first one minute call, Sh3 for a two-minute call, Sh2 for a three-minute call and Sh1 for a call that lasts for more than three minutes.

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Bob Collymore, Safaricom’s Chief Executive Officer, said the new promotion was launched to reward loyal subscribers by allowing them longer call durations. He noted that customer focus is one of Safaricom’s outstanding attributes, thus it always reviews its propositions with a vision of improving customer experience and satisfaction.

The new promo was unveiled at a time when the company’s market share is struggling with increasing pressure from rival networks.

With over 10 million subscribers, Safaricom remains the leading mobile operator in the telecommunications industry. However, the latest data released by the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) indicated that the company is losing its market share to its rivals.

yuMobile’s nearly free call charges boosted its subscription rates by as high as 14.5 per cent, the highest growth recorded in the first quarter of 2012. yuMobile, which is under mobile firm Essar Telecom, also cut its calling charges to a flat rate of Sh5 per day for the first minute of calls within the network.

Meanwhile, Mr Collymore said the current promotion will only apply to Pre-paid subscribers making voice calls within the network between 6am and 6pm. It aims to encourage subscribers to talk more. Data shows that majority of subscribers only make voice calls for less than two minutes.

Safaricom added that call charges to other networks within the country or overseas will remain intact.