A safaricom shop [Photo:Techweez]
Safaricom has now restricted the time in which customers can use up data resources bought through the use of its Bonga loyalty points.
Bonga data bundles that were previously marked as having no expiry now carry validity time frames.
The Data Bonga purchases which range from 80 MB to one gigabyte, expire effective midnight on the day of the purchase.
Airtime and talk-time minutes’ redemptions have a validity period of seven days, while SMS redemptions have an expiry window of between 24 hours and 30 days, depending on the units redeemed.
“The data bundles purchased will be valid for seven (7) days after which any unused resources will expire and will no longer be available for use,” the telco’s terms and conditions on Bonga bundles state.
The move by the telco to cap the life of the Bonga resources reflects the recent push by the company to encourage subscribers to use up their loyalty points.
This is after the value of unredeemed points has been going up over the years, hitting Sh4.5 billion in March 2022 from Sh3 billion in 2015.
The loyalty points are recognized as a liability, or deferred income, in Safaricom’s books and are only booked as revenue upon redemption by customers either for airtime, SMS, merchandise or shopping.