Safaricom Schedules 3-Hour Shutdown of All M-PESA Services

A Safaricom customer using M-PESA services/ PHOTO/ COURTESY

Safaricom has announced that all M-PESA services will be temporarily unavailable on Monday, September 22, 2025, due to a scheduled system upgrade.

In a press release issued on Friday, the company said the upgrade is aimed at enhancing security, stability and reliability of its mobile money services, which have been operational for 18 years.

Safaricom noted that the maintenance will affect all M-PESA services, including airtime purchase and emphasized that the timing had been carefully chosen to minimize inconvenience to customers.

The outage will run from 12:30 am to 3:30 am.

“The timing of this maintenance activity has been planned to result in minimal inconvenience to our customers,” the statement read, adding that the company remains committed to providing safe and worry-free financial services.

M-PESA, which has grown into Kenya’s most widely used mobile money platform, currently connects millions of users to payments, savings, and credit services.

Safaricom reaffirmed its commitment to keeping the system always on, safe, secure, and worry-free even as demand for digital financial products continues to grow.

The company apologized for any inconvenience the temporary suspension may cause and thanked customers for their continued support.