When will M-Pesa services be unavailable?
Safaricom has announced that M-Pesa services will be temporarily unavailable on Monday, September 22, 2025, due to a scheduled system upgrade. The maintenance will run from 12:30 AM to 3:30 AM, affecting all M-Pesa services, including airtime purchases. The company emphasized that the exercise is aimed at improving security, reliability, and user experience for millions of Kenyans.
Why is Safaricom upgrading M-Pesa now?
According to Safaricom, this is the most significant upgrade since 2015, introducing Fintech 2.0, a next-generation core platform designed to increase resilience, expand capacity, and enable advanced, AI-driven features. In a statement, the company explained:
“For 18 years, M-Pesa has continued to transform lives across Kenya, connecting 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 CEO Dr Peter Ndegwa called the transition a milestone for the platform. “This upgrade is a bold investment in the future of M-PESA and reaffirmation of our commitment to innovation, resilience and customer trust. 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,” he said.
What changes will the upgrade bring to users?
The new M-Pesa Core will expand transaction capacity from 4,500 to 6,000 per second, with the potential to reach 12,000 as demand increases. It will also feature an active-active architecture across multiple hosting sites, ensuring stronger resilience and minimal downtime in the future.
For users, the upgrade means a faster, more reliable, and future-ready M-Pesa experience, reinforcing its role as Kenya’s leading mobile money service.
By Lucky Anyanje