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Airtel, Safaricom in Twitter banter


Airtel and Safaricom lit up Twitter on Friday morning as they engaged in a good-natured banter as the latter celebrated 15th anniversary on Friday.

Bob collymore
Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore distributes free airtime to commuters inside a bus at Kencom stage, Nairobi to mark Safaricom’s 15th anniversary. PHOTO | NAIROBI NEWS

It started with Airtel sending happy birthday wishes to Safaricom, which turns 15 Friday, with a teaser, “Paint the town red on this special day!” Red is Airtel’s corporate colour.

Safaricom, who have previously told Airtel social media handlers to “stop tagging us in your tweets”, were gracious on this occasion, even referring to Airtel as “friends”.

Airtel responded.

Safaricom controls 67.4 per cent of Kenya’s telecoms market with Airtel, its closest rival, controlling 22.6 per cent. Orange has 10 per cent.