Understanding Safaricom’s New ‘Reverse Call’ Feature

Safaricom has today, 18^th June 2019, announced the introduction of its “Reverse Call” feature.

The ‘Reverse Call’ feature will be accessible to Safaricom’s over 31 million customers and will solve the problem of lack of airtime for the common mwananchi.

How the Reverse Call Feature Works

The Reverse Call Feature service will enable a caller to transfer the cost of the call to the receiver by simply adding a hashtag (#) before the number they are calling while dialing.

For example, when one is calling 0711 000 000 and they have no airtime to call, all they have to do is add a (#) to transfer the cost of the call to the 0711 000 000 such as #0711 000 000.

Securing the Receivers Airtime

You do not have to worry about every call that you pick, however, thinking that the caller could be transferring the responsibility to pay for it to you. The Reverse Call feature provides the option of whether to pick the call or not.

The receiver of a reverse call request will see the caller’s details appear on the screen as normal; but upon picking the call, the receiver will hear a voice prompt asking them to key in number one (1) to accept the reverse call.

The cost of the call will not be affected and will remain as previously charged on normal calls.

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Benefits of the Reverse Call Feature

The reverse call feature is already creating excitement among Safaricom customers for obvious reasons.

Ever been trapped in a situation where you need to make an urgent call but it happened that you were out of airtime and no matter how many ‘Please Call Me’ messages you sent you were not called back? Well, imagine you had the option of ‘Reversing the call’.

The majority of mobile phone users have very quiet ringtones for their messages and so whenever you send them the please call me message, they are likely to take long to notice, and that’s when the Reverse Call feature becomes a lifesaver.

The Please Call me feature has over time become embarrassing and irritating unless the sender is in some kind of emergency, so the reverse call feature brings some dignity with it and faster results as the caller can easily reach his target.

The Chief Customer Officer at Safaricom, Sylvia Mulinge, notes that the Company is committed to maintaining the provision of relevant products to its customers.

“This innovation is in line with this commitment and has been tailored to mirror the relationships between our customers to empower them to always remain connected with their loved ones,” Mulinge adds.

Who can Access the Reverse Call Feature?

The Reverse Call feature is only available for on-net calls and will not be applicable for off-net, roaming, and international calls.

This means that the caller and the receiver must be on Safaricom.

Safaricom Customers have previously been using the “Please Call Me” feature whenever they lack sufficient airtime to get their loved ones to make voice calls to them.

The ‘Please Call Me’ service, as it is fondly known amongst Safaricom subscribers, is a short message requesting the recipient to call the sender.

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