Kenya: Songa to launch new payment system

Songa general manager Chinasa Udeala told Music In Africa that the addition would make it easier for users to buy music.

"We had a high rate of billing failures on the old system,” he said. “The optimised system will create a better user experience in regards to payments and access to the service and will definitely help increase our user subscription."

He said the new platform would allow Songa subscribers to purchase music with airtime as opposed to mobile data, which previously had proved to be expensive.

“The new billing system will be a success because it is easy to use and very efficient. Therefore, it is our goal to see the Songa service launch in other East African countries in five years,” Udeala said. 

There are three new price tiers for Songa users: a daily subscription that costs 5 Kenyan shillings ($ 0.5), a weekly subscription worth 30 shillings and a monthly subscription of 100 shillings.

The new subscription rates are more customer friendly as opposed to the current subscription plans (25, 150 and 499 shillings respectively).

Since its launch in 2018, Songa has registered more than 240 000 subscribers.