Data Manager is a service that prevents data from being charged from airtime when there is no active data bundle or when it gets exhausted.
Up until now, Airtel has been the only telecom without this service, as their competitors Safaricom and Telkom Kenya have had comparable services for a few years now.
The availability of the data manager service therefore comes as a huge reprieve to Airtel Kenya customers. To activate the service, follow the instructions below.
Activate Data Manager
- Dial *544# and select Data Manager from list of options.
- Reply with Activate to enable the service.
- You should then get an SMS from Airtel confirming that the service has been activated.

After activating the service, you’ll not be able to browse without an active data bundle.
Should you want to disable the service so that data can be charged from your airtime, just go back to the Data Manager menu and select the Deactivate option.