M-Pesa Services To Be Unavailable During Safaricom’s Scheduled System Upgrade

Safaricom PLC has announced that its flagship mobile money platform, M-Pesa, will undergo a scheduled system upgrade on Monday, September 22, 2025, between 12:30 am and 3:30 am.

In a notice to customers, the telco said the three-hour maintenance window is part of ongoing efforts to improve the reliability, security, and performance of M-Pesa services.

“For 18 years, M-Pesa has continued to transform lives across Kenya, connecting you, our customers, to opportunities every day. To support this and meet our promise to offer always-on, safe, secure, and worry-free financial products and services, we will be conducting a scheduled system upgrade,” Safaricom said in a statement.

During the upgrade period, all M-Pesa services, including airtime purchase, will be temporarily unavailable.

The company emphasised that the timing has been carefully chosen to minimise inconvenience and urged customers to plan transactions in advance.

Safaricom also apologised for the disruption and expressed gratitude to customers for their continued trust, noting that such upgrades are necessary to sustain M-Pesa’s role as a backbone of Kenya’s digital economy.

Launched in 2007, M-Pesa now serves over 32.1 million customers in Kenya alone and has been a key driver of financial inclusion, raising access to formal financial services from 26.7% in 2006 to 83.7% in 2021.

The platform generated Sh139.9 billion in revenue in 2024 and continues to expand globally, with a footprint in more than 170 countries and over 70 million active users.

The mobile money service also supports over one million businesses and agents across markets including Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Ghana, and Egypt.