Telecommunication service provider Safaricom PLC has notified customers of a planned maintenance on its M-PESA system on Monday, March 24, 2025.
The maintenance will take place from 1 a.m. to 1:30 a.m.
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Safaricom said the planned maintenance is aimed at meeting its promise to always offer reliable, safe, secure and a superior customer experience.
Safaricom announces planned system maintenance set to affect M-Pesa
During this time, all M-PESA services will be intermittent. However, other services, including calls, data, and SMS, will remain operational.
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“We are continuously innovating and enhancing our services to connect our customers with endless possibilities. To meet our promise to always offer Reliable, Safe, Secure and a Superior customer experience, we will be conducting a scheduled system maintenance on the night of Monday 24th March 2025 starting from 01.00AM to 01.30AM,” read the notice in part.
“During the 30 minutes maintenance period, all M-PESA services will be intermittent. All other Safaricom services including calls, data and SMS services will be available uninterrupted,” the service provider added.
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Safaricom stated that the timing of the maintenance has been planned to result in the least inconvenience to their customers.
“We apologize for any inconvenience caused and thank you for choosing us as your trusted provider,” Safaricom added.
Also Read: Airtel Money Market Share Grows as Safaricom;s M-Pesa Declines
M-Pesa Market Share Drops
This comes after a statistics report by the Communication Authority of Kenya showed that M-PESA, recorded its fifth consecutive quarterly decline, with its market share dropping by 2.3 percentage points to 91% in Q4 2024.
Meanwhile, Airtel Money increased its share from 7.6% to 8.9%, according to data from the CA.
Sending Ksh 1,000 ($7.7) costs Ksh 11 ($0.085) on Airtel Money compared to Ksh 13 ($0.093) on M-PESA, while withdrawing the same amount costs Ksh 29 ($0.22) on Airtel, Ksh 2 less than M-Pesa.
The decline reflects growing competition in Kenya’s mobile money market, driven by increased interoperability and Airtel Money’s aggressive pricing strategy.
However, despite the shift, M-Pesa remains dominant, processing over 30 billion transactions worth Ksh 40 trillion ($308.8 billion) and serving 34 million customers.
Airtel Money has eight million registered users. The Central Bank of Kenya’s planned agent interoperability and the introduction of a new Fast Payment System (FPS), which allows instant transactions across all financial institutions, could further disrupt the market.
Also Read: Pay Bills, Till Numbers and MPESA Transaction Will Be Linked to KRA
In early March this year, Safaricom launched Ziidi, a wealth management product designed to disrupt the country’s retail investment sector.
The Ziidi Money Market Fund (MMF) allows M-Pesa customers to invest in a money market fund with as little as Ksh100 and earn a net return of 7 percent.
The service is available to users on both smartphones and feature phones, with no charges or maintenance fees.
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