Nairobi, September 22, 2025 — Safaricom PLC has announced the successful completion of a major upgrade to its M-PESA mobile money platform, in what the company describes as its most significant technological shift since 2015.
The scheduled maintenance, carried out between 12:30 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. on Monday, temporarily disrupted all M-PESA services, including money transfers, withdrawals, airtime purchases, Lipa na M-PESA, and bank transactions. Safaricom said it deliberately chose early morning hours to minimise disruption to customers.
“All M-PESA services are now available. We look forward to serving you better and providing you with seamless experiences,” the company said in an official statement confirming the resumption of services.
Fintech 2.0 Platform
Safaricom Chief Executive Officer Peter Ndegwa described the upgrade as a move to “Fintech 2.0,” a next-generation platform designed to increase capacity, boost reliability, and improve security.
“With this upgrade, we have raised transaction processing from 4,500 per second to 6,000, with scalability up to 12,000. The system now runs on an ‘active-active’ setup across multiple hosting sites, reducing interruptions and improving protection against outages,” Ndegwa said.
He added that the investment was a “bold reaffirmation” of Safaricom’s commitment to innovation and customer trust, stressing that the new infrastructure positions M-PESA to meet growing demand both locally and regionally.
Growing Role in the Economy
M-PESA, which processes billions of shillings in transactions daily, has grown far beyond mobile money transfers to anchor key services such as loans, savings, insurance, wealth management, and cross-border payments. Analysts say the upgrade signals Safaricom’s push to consolidate its dominance in the local market while preparing for expansion into new territories such as Ethiopia.
Industry experts note that the system’s new capacity and redundancy will help reduce downtime, a common source of customer frustration, and strengthen Safaricom’s position as a regional leader in digital financial services.
Customer Impact
The company apologised for any inconvenience caused by the downtime and assured subscribers that the system is now fully restored. “By moving to Fintech 2.0, we are unlocking a platform that not only scales to meet today’s demands but also anticipates tomorrow’s opportunities,” Ndegwa added.
With the upgrade complete, Safaricom now faces the task of defending its market share against rising competition from fintech startups, banks, and global payment platforms, even as customers return to normal use of the service.
