I remember the first time I heard about Tingg Africa by Cellulant. It was last year – at a time when I was writing a series of posts on mobile phone service providers in Kenya (Safaricom, Airtel Kenya, Telkom Kenya and Equitel).

Checking if everything looked okay on the frontend (of my site Niabusiness.com) , I could see these new Google AdSense ads about a new service in Kenya one could use to top up their lines – Safaricom, Airtel and Telkom.

The two banner ads I remember had the following:

• *369# Buy Airtel Airtime using M-PESA
• *369# Buy Telkom Airtime using M-PESA

So I dialed the Tingg USSD shortcode I saw on one of those ads (*369#) to learn more about the service.

What did I find? A menu that looks like this:

Welcome to Tingg.

1. Order Gas
2. Due bills (0)
3. Free Credits!
4. Faiba Internet
5. Buy Airtime
6. KPLC
7. International Funds Transfer
8. Order KFC
9. Nairobi Water
10. Airtel Services
11. Pay TV
12. My Expenditure
13. My Profile
14. Contact us

Let’s explore what is under each of the menus

Order Gas on Tingg

So, when you use this option, you will receive a text message that reads as follows:

‘You are almost there! Click the link below to place your order. https://tingg.africa/ke/gas/’

Check Due bills on Tingg

You can use this option to check any pending bills. Then you can quickly make payment if you want.

Get Free Credits on Tingg

This is Tingg’s referral program. You will be awarded with credits when you invite friends to sign up for the service.

• Invite friends
• Redeem for Airtime
• Request Statement

Buy Faiba Internet bundles & plans on Tingg

If you use Faiba, you can go under this option to buy data bundles, mobile plans, unlimited plans.

You can buy Faiba daily, weekly and monthly data bundles starting at KSh 50 (Daily 1 GB).

Other bundles you can buy include Weekly 8GB at KSh 300, Weekly 15GB at KSh 500, Monthly 25 GB at KSh 1000, Monthly 40GB at KSh 2000, Monthly 70GB at KSh 3000, Monthly 120GB at KSh 4000, Monthly 210GB at KSh 6000.

For mobile plans, you can choose to buy Kifaru 30GB at KSh 1500, Ndovu 60GB at KSh 2500 or Simba 90GB at KSh 4000.

For unlimited plans, you can buy Faiba Fisi Hour at Kenya Shillings 150.

So, any time you want to buy Faiba bundles on your Safaricom or Airtel Kenya line, just use the Tingg *369# shortcode.

Buy Airtime on Tingg

Under this option you can purchase airtime for Safaricom, Airtel Kenya, Telkom Kenya.

You can pay for your airtime purchases via M-PESA. You can buy airtime for your line, other phone numbers and even create a list of favorite numbers for quick airtime purchases.

Pay KPLC bills on Tingg

Under this option you can pay your Kenya Power and Lighting Company bills / or buy tokens.

You will find the following under this option:

• KPLC Postpaid
• KPLC Tokens

Tingg International Funds Transfer / SimbaPay

Enter your name and national ID / passport or alien number to use thisfeature (SimbaPay) to send money to another mobile phone number.

Enter recipient’s mobile number (phone number to send money to including international country code) e.g. 256773456734. Enter the recipient’s full name and amount you want to send.

You can use this feature to send money directly to people’s mobile phone numbers across the world. I wrote an article about it here. Read it to learn more.

Order KFC on Tingg

Under this option you can purchase a variety of food items sold by KFC in different parts of the city.

The locations currently listed by Tingg include:

1. Westlands
2. Gigiri
3. Nairobi CBD
4. Ngong Road / Kilimani
5. Eastlands
6. Karen
7. Thika Road
8. Eldoret
9. Kisumu
10. Other Location

Pay Nairobi Water bill on Tingg

Under this option, you can enter your account number and use Tingg to pay your water and sewerage bills.

Pay TV bill payment on Tingg

Under this option, you can pay your TV bouquet bills easily. Just enter your account number once you dial *369#. Content providers currently listed by Tingg include:

• DStv
• GOtv
• Kwese
• StarTimes

Check My Expenditure on Tingg

Under this option you can quickly check your Tingg expenses. You can check your general expenditure for the last 30 days, the current month or the last month.

My Profile on Tingg

Under this option you can create an account on Tingg or view your current accounts.

Just go to My Profile > My Accounts > Add new account / View accounts > Select a category (KPLC, Water, Pay TV & Airtime)

Contact us (contact Tingg support)

Use this option to get in touch with the team over at Tingg. Reach customer care via the different contact methods shown under the option.

When you use this option, you will also get an SMS with Tingg’s contact details. Here is how the text looks like:

‘For any enquiries, call us on 254708802299. Twitter: @TinggKenya Facebook: Tingg Kenya Instagram: @TinggKenya Email: mula.support@cellulant.com Thank you for using Tingg.’

On their website, tingg.africa, there are also options for services similar to the ones I have listed above.