The Strategic Signal Every Business Should Decode, A Dive Into Safaricom's B-Live

Key Takeaways for Business Leaders

• Experiment with multiple pricing options to uncover hidden demand and customer segments.
• Listen closely to customer choice patterns to refine products and marketing.
• Consider premium pricing for certainty and convenience, especially where unpredictability causes customer anxiety.
• Look beyond copying competitors; innovate in how customers interact with pricing, not just the price itself.

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Safaricom Launches B-Live

On August 20, 2025, Safaricom launched B-Live, a time-based internet bundle offering rates ranging from KES 20 per hour to KES 150 for six hours. Headlines have focused on "unlimited data within time windows," but the real story is much deeper. Safaricom has just unveiled its vision for Kenya's digital future, a vision packed with strategic signals most businesses are missing.

Source:  Techtrends.co.ke

The Complement, Not Competition, Strategy

B-Live doesn't replace traditional data bundles. It sits alongside them. This isn't disruption; it's market expansion. And that tells us something critical: Safaricom believes there's untapped demand that current pricing models don't address.

Which demand? Let's look at the evidence.

Safaricom disabled hotspotting on these bundles. You can't share the connection. This single restriction reveals their target: individual users in specific contexts, not households or small businesses trying to save money.

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Understanding the Real Use Case: Bridging the Urban-Rural Divide

Kenya is a country of shifting connectivity. Many people move between urban centres with WiFi and rural areas without fixed internet access:

• A Nairobi professional visiting family in Kisii
• A student travelling home from campus
• A sales agent covering multiple counties

For these users, B-Live offers something traditional bundles don't: predictable costs for unpredictable connectivity needs. When you're in a location for a few days without WiFi, buying time makes more sense than guessing how much data you'll need.

The Market Reality Safaricom Is Addressing: Ending "Bundle Anxiety"

Most Kenyans who use mobile internet know "bundle anxiety", the stress of wondering if their data will last. The usual dilemma is:

• Buying too much and wasting money
• Buying too little and getting cut off mid-task

B-Live eliminates this calculation. Do you need to attend a 2-hour online meeting? Buy 2 hours. Downloading a large file that might take an unknown amount of data? Buy time instead of guessing gigabytes.

This isn't about getting more people online. It's about enabling existing users to consume data without hesitation. It's an entirely different game.

Nendo AI generated image

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Behavioral Economics: The Real Innovation

The temptation is to copy the time-based model. That's the wrong lesson.The right lesson? Safaricom is experimenting with pricing psychology. 

They are testing whether giving users a choice of how to pay (time vs. volume) encourages higher overall spending, even if service quality is constant. 

This reflects behavioural economics, not just telecom innovation.

The Economic Signal in Simple Terms

When Safaricom offers both time and data bundles, they're essentially saying: "We think Kenyans fall into different groups with different spending habits, and these groups aren't changing anytime soon."

• Some customers count megabytes carefully.

• Others pay for the convenience of predictability.. 

These groups aren't just different income levels; they're distinct buyer types altogether.

What This Means for Your Business: Strategic Questions to Ask

1. If customers value choice itself, what options are you not offering? 

Safaricom’s experiment suggests that more payment options can increase total revenue. Reflect on your pricing: Do customers leave because your product is too expensive, or because the buying options don't align with their preferences?

2. What do you learn when customers reveal their preferences through choices? 

Choosing between time and data reveals priorities. Could your business create similar choice points to understand better and meet customer needs?

3. If predictable costs matter more than actual costs, how should you rethink pricing? 

B-Live users might pay more per GB consumed, but they know exactly what they'll spend. Where in your business are customers anxious about unpredictable costs, and would they be willing to pay a premium for certainty?

Source:  IStockphoto.com

The Historical Context Worth Noting

As Moses Kemibaro observes, time-based internet isn't new to Kenya. The dial-up era operated on similar principles. However, that was a necessity driven by technological limitations. Today's revival is choice-driven by business strategy. That difference matters.

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The Bottom Line

Safaricom isn’t just launching a product; they’re conducting a massive, live experiment on pricing elasticity and consumer behaviour that will echo across East Africa’s digital economy.

If one of Africa’s most advanced companies is rethinking fundamental pricing models, what pricing assumptions does your business need to revisit?

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The companies that thrive won't be those that copy Safaricom's model, but those that copy Safaricom's willingness to experiment with fundamental business assumptions ~ Adrian Leshan, Nendo

What pricing experiments could transform your industry?

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