Safaricom is set to perform a third M-Pesa upgrade from the 30th of June.
The leading telco has announced that it is planning to perform a major upgrade on M-PESA over the next few weeks.
This will be the third major M-PESA upgrade since the company introduced the platform in 2007, and the first since the platform servers’ were moved to Kenya in 2015.
The systems upgrade will affect M-PESA services for about two hours on June 30th from 1 am to 3 am. The implication is that a number of M-PESA services will not be available
The upgrade is also expected to affect other money services such as International Transfer, KCB-M-PESA, M-Shwari, and M-Kesho on July 5th from 1 am to 3 am.
That’s not all:
You should brace for a 4-hour outage on July 15th-16th from 12.00AM to 4.00 AM. This is because Safaricom is set to conduct a transfer of the new service to a new platform.
The giant telco is expected to make an official communication through the media and various social media platforms.
The next M-PESA phase
Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore said that the planned M-PESA upgrade will pave way for the next phase of the mobile money platform.
In addition, the Safaricom boss emphasized that the next phase will ensure better service delivery for M-PESA customers and partners.
The upgrade will pave way for Safaricom to roll out more features and improve the mobile money transfer platform.
What’s in it for customers?
Customers will get to interact with new features and enhancements and this means a better experience. They will benefit by having a larger number of platforms offering their services on the all-new M-PESA platform.
One of the expected changes is the inclusion of M-Shwari and KCB M-Pesa in the Safaricom App
The new features will be rolled out over the next couple of months.
It gets better:
Automation of different M-PESA procedures will eliminate the need to make certain requests to the call center. Customers and merchants can now enjoy an efficient process thanks to the upgrade.
Previous M-PESA Upgrade Notices
Safaricom’s wildly popular mobile money transfer platform has undergone two other major updates in the past.
One was in 2010 where the outage took place between the 27th and 29 November 2010. This upgrade aimed to upgrade the system so that it could accommodate the increasing number of subscribers. This time, all M-PESA services were unavailable.
In 2012, the upgrade took place between the 21st and 22nd of January. This time, the objective was to “increase M-PESA offering” and ensure that the mobile money platform continues to deliver more innovative services.
Fret Not, Your Money is Safe
Safaricom has always assured its customers that while they may not access their money during the upgrade period, their money is safe.
So, let us not witness typical Kenyan fashion where people make meandering queues to withdraw their funds. Safaricom, or M-PESA for that matter, is not going anywhere!
For clarifications and inquiries, get in touch with Safaricom through their various social media platforms.
