Smarta 1500 drops from 90GB to 32GB as Airtel Kenya revises every bundle tier - tech-ish

This story has significance for readers across Kenya and beyond.

Airtel Kenya cut the data on all four Smarta bundles on 18 August 2026 without changing the prices. Smarta is Airtel’s flagship prepaid package, sold since February 2025. It bundles data, call minutes, SMS and a cashback benefit on Airtel Money fees. The KES 1,000 monthly plan fell from 45GB to 22GB, a cut of 51%, and the KES 1,500 monthly plan from 90GB to 32GB, a cut of 64%. Both weekly plans lost exactly half their data. The new allocations are live on Airtel Kenya’s Smarta page.

Smarta’s all-network minutes work to any Kenyan number. Its on-net minutes work only Airtel to Airtel.

What changed

The middle column is what customers had until yesterday, from the upgrade we reported on 11 March. The launch column is what Airtel gave when it introduced Smarta in February 2025.

| Bundle | Data at launch | Data before | Data now | Reduced: All-network minutes | Reduced: On-net minutes | Reduced: SMS |

|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|

| Smarta 300, 7 days | not sold | 7GB | 3.5GB | 100 to 100 | 100 to 50 | 500 to 250 |

| Smarta 500, 7 days | not sold | 14GB | 7GB | 225 to 225 | 100 to 50 | 1,250 to 350 |

| Smarta 1000, 30 days | 30GB | 45GB | 22GB | 400 to 300 | 3,000 to 700 | 2,000 to 1,000 |

| Smarta 1500, 30 days | 60GB | 90GB | 32GB | 900 to 700 | 3,000 to 1,000 | 5,000 to 1,000 |

The KES 1,500 plan is not below where Smarta started, it is roughly half of it. On-net minutes are the deepest cut in the table: 3,000 down to 700 on the KES 1,000 plan, a fall of 77%. SMS on the KES 1,500 plan fell 80%.

The weekly on-net figures need a caveat. Airtel’s website lists them as 50 per day, which would be 350 across a seven-day bundle. The My Airtel app lists a flat 50. The table uses the app figure, which is what customers see on their phones.

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What happens to the bundle you are on

A Smarta bundle bought before 18 August keeps its old allocation until it expires. Airtel’s SMS of 14 August said existing resources would not be affected, and balance screenshots customers posted on 18 August show old allocations running to their original expiry dates. The reduction applies from your next purchase, and an auto-renewal buys the new allocation at the old price.

That SMS, which was sent four days ahead, is the only notice Airtel gave. It said: “Dear customer, on 18th August 2026, we will review Smarta Bundle benefits for Data, Minutes & SMS. Your existing resources will not be affected.”

Rollover

Smarta used to release data daily. The KES 1,500 plan dropped 3GB at each midnight, and anything unused rolled into the next day until the bundle expired. A second Airtel SMS on 18 August said customers would now get all their data upfront, and keep unused resources by renewing the same bundle on time.

The rollover survives. Airtel’s published terms still give you 24 hours after expiry to buy the same bundle and carry your unused data, minutes and SMS across. Several customers have said publicly that Airtel scrapped the grace period. Airtel’s terms say otherwise, and we have not seen evidence that the term has stopped working.

Now just 2% difference

The KES 1,000 Smarta bundle used to work out at KES 22.22 per gigabyte. It is now KES 45.45. Safaricom’s KES 1,000 monthly plan carries 21.5GB, according to the coverage of its Pata More campaign in late July, which puts it at KES 46.51 per gigabyte.

So Airtel is still cheaper, by 2.3%, against a gap of more than half in March.

Smarta’s KES 1,000 tier also buys 300 all-network minutes, 700 on-net minutes, 1,000 SMS and the Airtel Money cashback. Safaricom’s KES 1,000 bundle buys data alone.

Second change from Airtel in a few weeks

On 14 July, Airtel Money’s cross-network transfer fees rose to match M-PESA’s tariff band for band, with no announcement and no SMS. Sending KES 101 to 500 went from KES 6 to KES 7, and KES 1,501 to 2,500 from KES 30 to KES 33. A week later, Airtel rebuilt its Amazing Data bundles, cutting the KES 50 daily bundle from 2GB to 1GB and the KES 500 weekly from 20GB to 12GB while raising the monthly tiers.

Cheaper transfers and cheaper data made an Airtel line worth holding for people who did not need Safaricom’s coverage. The transfer advantage went in July. Most of the data advantage is now gone.

Airtel Africa Profits

Airtel Africa published results for the quarter to 30 June 2026 on 22 July. Group revenue rose 31% to $1,853m. Operating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation reached $928m on a margin of 50.1%, up from 48.0% a year earlier. Profit after tax was $198m against $156m.

Airtel Africa does not report how the Kenyan market performs on its own. It groups Kenya with Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. That region grew revenue 14.4% stripping out exchange-rate movements, and its data customer base rose 16.8% to 37.8 million.

What Smarta still gives you

Smarta customers still get 100% of their Paybill, bank-to-wallet and agent withdrawal charges back, though Airtel moved that reward from airtime to a bonus wallet in July. Airtel excludes betting paybills and cross-network transfers.

On socials, customers are angry and frustrated. Those threatening to leave have been mentioning Faiba. Jamii Telecommunications had 883,944 subscribers at the end of March 2026, 1.1% of Kenyan lines, against Airtel’s 23.2 million and Safaricom’s 57.9 million, and its network is 4G only. For most people the realistic alternative remains Safaricom, at a per-gigabyte rate almost equal to Airtel’s/

The recent Pata More campaign by the Green Telco saw it more than double its KES 1,000 monthly bundle to 21.5GB in late July, while Airtel was still selling 45GB for the same money. However, the company has also recently gone back on B-Live bundles.

Reporting originally appeared via Tech-ish Kenya. Read the full source for additional context.