Standard, Safaricom in pact to sell digital newspapers

Safaricom has partnered with The Standard Group and other media houses in a deal that will see newspapers made available to smartphone users at Sh20 per issue.

The amount will be deducted from the customer’s airtime, enabling them to buy and read newspapers on the go for seven days. “We are pleased to be part of this initiative, which is a demonstration of our commitment to fuse journalistic creativity with digital innovation in a collaborative venture that we hope will bring value to our esteemed readers and give customers easy access to our newspapers during the pandemic period,” said The Standard Group Chief Executive Officer Orlando Lyomu.

The Sh20 price per newspaper includes data usage, meaning a customer’s data bundle will not be consumed when reading through each paper.

Mobile phone

No registration or signup will be necessary, neither will customers be requested to download and in-stall any application.

“The world is quickly evolving to be digitally-led and we see our customers increasingly seeking ways in which they can achieve their goals by tapping into the convenience of their smartphone,” said Safaricom Chief Executive Peter Ndegwa. “We are glad to partner with media houses to digitise the newspaper channel and make them available on the mobile phone.”

The service can be accessed by visiting Safaricom.com and selecting the “Discover” option followed by “Newspapers.”

Nation Media Group Chief Executive Stephen Gitagama said the firm will continue to explore different solutions to keep its readers informed.

Customers can also dial *550# to purchase the newspapers. The Standard Group newspapers include The Standard, Saturday Standard, Sunday Standard and The Nairobian.