The breach, reportedly involving more than 17 million files, could be the largest cyberattack on a health platform in the country’s history.

The group behind the attack, calling itself Kazu, says it accessed approximately 2.15 terabytes of data from M-Tiba’s servers and has already leaked a 2GB sample on Telegram through its “Kazu Breach” channel. 

The shared files appear to contain sensitive details such as patients’ full names, national ID numbers, phone contacts, birth dates, and medical information, including diagnoses and billing records.

An early review of the leaked documents shows that data from about 114,000 users, both account holders and their dependents, has already been compromised. Kazu, however, claims the breach could affect as many as 4.8 million people, though this figure is still unverified.

When contacted, M-Tiba operator CarePay neither confirmed nor denied the claims but said it had begun an internal investigation.

“At M-TIBA, we take all matters of data security with the utmost seriousness. As part of our standard protocol, we would like to actively investigate the claims you are referring to,” said a CarePay representative in an email response to TechCabal. 

“To aid our internal investigation, could you please share the specific source links or posts that have prompted your inquiry?”

The leaked material also appears to include billing data from nearly 700 health facilities, with some documents displaying handwritten medical notes, doctor names, insurance details, and full payment summaries. If authenticated, the breach could expose not only individual patients but also hospitals, doctors, and insurers linked to the platform.

Officials at the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) confirmed awareness of the incident but declined to discuss it further, noting ongoing investigations. 

Kenya’s Data Protection Act of 2019 treats medical information as “sensitive personal data,” demanding strict storage and disclosure safeguards. 

A confirmed breach of this scale could result in legal penalties, class actions, and intense scrutiny from both regulators and international partners.

Kenya’s growing dependence on digital infrastructure has made it vulnerable to cyber threats. The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) recorded more than 4.6 billion cyber threat events between April and June 2025, an 80% rise from the previous quarter. 

Most of these incidents targeted banks, telecoms, and government systems, primarily through phishing, ransomware, and data theft.

Launched in 2016, M-Tiba was developed through a partnership between CarePay, Safaricom, and the PharmAccess Foundation. The platform allows users to save, spend, and receive funds specifically for healthcare, and it also manages insurance payouts and government health subsidies. 

With over 4 million users and ties to 3,000 hospitals, M-Tiba has been regarded as a model for expanding affordable healthcare access in Kenya.

However, the same scale that made M-Tiba a national success story has also made it a lucrative target.

The post Massive Data Breach Hits M-Tiba: Millions of Kenyan Health Records Allegedly Exposed appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

The upgrade, dubbed Fintech 2.0, moves Africa’s second-largest mobile money service to a cloud-native architecture, allowing it to process 6,000 transactions per second at launch, with the potential to double as demand rises.

“The scheduled M-PESA upgrade was successfully completed and all services fully restored. All M-PESA services are now available. We look forward to serving you better and providing you with seamless experiences,” the telco said in a tweet.

The migration addresses long-standing limitations. The previous system, operating near a 4,500-transactions-per-second ceiling, left little room for growth. Fintech 2.0 leverages microservices hosted on Huawei Cloud, enabling Safaricom to update individual components without taking the platform offline, a major step for reliability and speed.

Sources familiar with operations say engineers are monitoring live transactions to detect irregularities, a process expected to last several days. Other insiders indicate that the operator now aims to accelerate integrations with banks, fintechs, and developers, opening the door for new APIs, merchant credit products, and cross-border payment solutions.

M-PESA handles more than 21 billion transactions annually, serving over 50 million users across Africa, including payments, remittances, credit, and e-commerce. The upgrade is expected to strengthen its operations as a regional financial backbone, particularly for small businesses and cross-border trade, aligning with goals under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Competition is getting higher. Airtel Money and other digital-first fintechs have steadily expanded, putting pressure on M-PESA’s top place. The upgrade is not just a technical improvement, but aims to maintain leadership across the market.

In modernising its infrastructure, Safaricom positions M-PESA as a more agile, scalable, and partner-friendly platform. This change reflects the vision first backed by late CEO Bob Collymore, who framed the company’s future as a platform play rather than a closed service. 

With digital payments growing ever more competitive, Fintech 2.0 could enhance mobile money in Africa.

The post Fintech 2.0: Safaricom M-PESA Upgrade Boosts Mobile Money Performance Across Africa appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

With this, Safaricom is focusing on the growing share of Kenya’s freelance economy, where over 1.5 million workers now earn in dollars, pounds, and euros. Most of them receive their wages via PayPal. 

For years, they’ve had to endure slow, browser-based transfers or rely solely on Equity Bank’s instant withdrawal service. Now, there’s a quicker, app-based alternative in their pocket.

Integrated as a mini app within the M-PESA super app, the PayPal withdrawal service marks the first time users can access PayPal funds without needing to log in through external web portals. 

What used to be a clunky, multi-step process now takes just minutes and a few taps. Transfers typically process within two hours, far quicker than the one-to-three-day delays experienced with many bank-linked options.

For those navigating global work from Kenya, especially writers, developers, designers, and transcribers, this is a game-changer. A typical freelancer in Kenya earns between KES 1,000–3,000 per hour for transcription or up to KES 10,000 per article. 

With faster access to PayPal funds, managing liquidity and meeting local obligations becomes far easier.

The timing aligns with M-PESA’s role in Safaricom’s financial engine. In the year ending March 2025, mobile money revenue soared 15.2% to KES 161.1 billion ($1.25 billion). 

That jump was largely driven by a 20.3% spike in chargeable transactions per user, now averaging nearly 38 per month. Meanwhile, active customers grew 10.5% to 35.82 million.

Safaricom is no longer just a telco; it’s building a comprehensive financial ecosystem. The PayPal integration joins an expanding list of app-based financial services, from government payments to SME tools like Pochi la Biashara. 

Each service is tailored to a different income segment, but the target is the same; user retention and transaction growth.

To reiterate that goal, the app offers users real-time foreign exchange previews, biometric login for added security, and an in-app feedback system. Wallet limits have also been updated, users can now hold up to KES 500,000 ($3,875), with a daily transaction ceiling set to match.

Still, Equity Bank maintains a competitive edge when it comes to bulk withdrawals. It offers up to $10,000 per transaction, with no daily limits, and serves many high-volume sellers and cross-border e-commerce traders. 

But for individual freelancers and micro-entrepreneurs, M-PESA’s in-app alternative is faster, easier, and doesn’t require a bank account.

We can’t ignore the role of global rivals either. Platforms like Wise and Payoneer have been gaining ground in Kenya, offering better exchange rates and fewer restrictions than PayPal. 

But despite the alternatives, PayPal is still the most widely used gateway for digital freelancers, and this integration could help Safaricom capture more of that international money flow.

In the wider context, this could enhance inclusive digital finance in Kenya. As of December 2024, 84.8% of Kenyan households had access to mobile money. M-PESA alone processed KES 2.3 trillion ($17.83 billion) through its app in 2024. 

Safaricom’s goal now is to lock in that top spot and this latest development shows it’s willing to build the tools freelancers and remote workers actually need.

The post Safaricom Rolls Out Direct PayPal Withdrawals via M-PESA App appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

The breach, tied to outdated authentication protocols, reportedly drained the company of tens of millions of Kenyan shillings before it was closed in 2024.

According to two engineers directly involved, the vulnerability arose from Safaricom’s use of a Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet (PPPoE) system that assigned unique usernames but permitted a single, generic password across all accounts.

“People would often use someone’s account number as the username and apply the general password,” one engineer revealed, speaking anonymously to TechCabal.

This loophole, known to insiders for years, allowed thousands of users to bypass Safaricom’s official billing. In many instances, outsourced sales agents facilitated the fraud, accepting informal payments as low as KES 1,000 to reset routers and input fresh credentials. 

This restored internet services without routing payments through official Safaricom channels. Monthly charges for legitimate fibre packages typically ranged from KES 2,999 to KES 20,000.

The breach reveals huge gaps in Safaricom’s internal security. Although the company tops Kenya’s fixed internet market, holding a 36.5% market share with over 678,000 subscribers, it failed to promptly address backend weaknesses linked to legacy infrastructure. 

Engineers disclosed that fixing the problem required fundamental backend changes, not simple software patches. “This wasn’t something you could patch with one update,” said another source familiar with the system.

Insiders claim the vulnerability continued partly because addressing it risked disrupting ongoing expansion efforts. Between early 2024 and Q1 2025 alone, Safaricom added over 56,000 new connections, intensifying operational pressure.

By 2024, however, decisive changes were enforced: every Home Fibre account now carries unique, complex passwords, and session management protocols have been tightened to restrict accounts to a single active session at any given time.

“If one were to somehow get hold of the username and password, they would still not be able to use it as only one session is allowed,” an engineer confirmed.

Safaricom has not disclosed the financial damage, but internal estimates suggest tens of millions of shillings were lost. The company did not respond to direct requests for comment.

This incident stresses the risks across African broadband markets, where aggressive network expansion usually outpaces cybersecurity upgrades.

The flaws in Safaricom’s system show challenges faced by providers globally who rely on outdated PPPoE systems without upgrading to more secure authentication methods like MAC-based or certificate-based access.

At the recent Connected Africa Summit 2025, Safaricom itself acknowledged sector-wide risks, advocating for shared infrastructure models to cut deployment costs and enhance oversight.

The post Safaricom Shuts Down Six-Year Internet Theft Loophole After Millions Lost appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

Ndegwa, who stepped into the CEO role in April 2022, has been steadily building his stake since holding just 895,000 shares in 2021. 

At Safaricom’s closing price of KES 25.70 per share on Monday, his total shares are worth approximately KES 223.6 million ($1.73 million).

Some of this growth came through direct purchases, but a significant portion resulted from the company’s Employee Performance Share Award Plan (EPSAP), an incentive scheme designed to tie executive performance directly to shareholder returns.

In the 2025 financial year, Ndegwa received KES 45 million ($349,955) worth of shares as part of his total pay package of KES 294.2 million ($2.2 million), securing his place as the highest-paid executive on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).

Safaricom’s EPSAP works by the company buying shares on the open market and allocating them to key staff at no cost, subject to a three-year holding period. Once vested, employees can either retain or sell them.

The strategy aims to align employee goals with corporate objectives and discourage talent loss to competitors.

It’s not just Ndegwa benefiting, as Safaricom’s Chief Financial Officer, Dilip Pal, increased his own holding by 65% in the same period, now controlling 2.2 million shares valued at KES 56.5 million ($436,787). His investment shows similar faith in the company’s future.

These executive rewards follow a turnaround in Safaricom’s financials. The company posted an 11% rise in net profit to KES 69.8 billion ($540 million) for the year ended March 2025, a recovery after two years of flat growth blamed largely on heavy spending in Ethiopia.

Growth was fuelled by a surge in mobile money and data services, alongside narrowing losses in Ethiopia.

“Safaricom Ethiopia hit 10 million active customers by July 2025,” the company disclosed, reporting 270% revenue growth to 7.2 billion birr, tripling its mobile money transactions through M-PESA Ethiopia. The firm also rolled out 3,141 active sites, covering 50% of the Ethiopian population with 4G services and creating over 20,000 indirect jobs.

The bigger picture for Safaricom is equally strong. Total revenues surpassed $3 billion for the first time, with KES 388.7 billion reported for FY2025. M-PESA accounted for KES 139.9 billion, or 36% of total service revenues. Data usage across both Kenya and Ethiopia also spiked significantly.

While Safaricom’s expansion into Ethiopia initially dragged down profits, management has stayed assured. The latest results appear to justify that.

The post Safaricom CEO Raises Stake to 8.7m Shares, Earns $2.2m as Profit Surges 11% appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

Over 2,000 customers exited the service between December 2024 and March 2025.

New figures from the Communications Authority (CA) place Starlink’s total fixed internet subscribers at 17,066 by the end of Q1 2025. That’s a drop of over 11% within a single quarter, pulling the company down from the seventh to the eighth spot among internet service providers (ISPs) in Kenya. 

The timing coincides with a prolonged pause in new sign-ups and an aggressive drive by Safaricom to overtake the fixed broadband market.

The collapse in user growth traces back to Starlink’s decision to halt new connections across major urban and peri-urban counties, including Nairobi, Kiambu, and Machakos. 

The reason is overcapacity; too many users, not enough infrastructure. A Nairobi ground station was eventually switched on in January 2025 to ease the burden, but the damage was already done. Many who had spent over KES 45,000 ($348) on Starlink hardware were left waiting, months on end, for access.

Even now, with the waitlist reopened, growth hasn’t recovered. Some customers appear to have abandoned the service altogether, citing connection delays, lack of support, and the high KES 6,500 ($50) monthly fee for speeds of 180 Mbps. 

Meanwhile, Safaricom swooped in with cheaper 5G plans starting at KES 4,000 ($31) per month for 50 Mbps. More importantly, the company cut its router prices from KES 25,000 to KES 3,000, more than ten times cheaper than Starlink’s hardware.

Safaricom’s moves are working. It added nearly 57,000 fixed broadband subscribers in the first quarter of 2025 alone, increasing its market share to 36.5%. Starlink, by comparison, slipped from 1.1% to 0.9%. Even Dimension Data overtook it in the rankings.

Distribution patterns reveal another dimension of Starlink’s challenges. Supermarket chains like Carrefour have started reducing the stock of Starlink kits. Quickmart has shifted to marketing Safaricom’s 5G routers instead. 

The early excitement generated by Elon Musk’s online endorsements and local tech influencers is waning. Starlink’s dominance in satellite internet, currently holding 97% of Kenya’s satellite market, is beginning to look fragile.

And now, regulatory threats are emerging. The CA has proposed a near tenfold increase in satellite licence fees, from KES 1.6 million to KES 15 million. An additional 0.4% levy on annual gross turnover is also on the table. These changes, framed as efforts to create parity between global and local players, will hit Starlink’s margins hard.

Globally, Starlink added more than 1.5 million users in three months, reaching 5.36 million subscribers as of March 2025. Africa accounted for 336,000 of those, marking a 42% rise. But in Kenya, the direction has turned. 

Even with its wide reach into underserved regions and relatively high speeds, Starlink’s challenges might soon move beyond technical, to financial, political, and strategic. 

The post Starlink Loses 2,000+ Subscribers in Kenya as Safaricom Adds 57,000 appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

What used to be a near-total lock on the market is now slipping through M-PESA’s fingers. The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) released fresh data confirming the downward trend, pointing to several key forces reshaping the sector: regulatory reforms, aggressive competition, and shifting customer priorities.

The biggest challenger is Airtel Money. Its market share has more than tripled in just two years, from 2.9% in 2023 to 9.1% in Q1 2025. Behind that growth is a focused, multi-pronged strategy. 

Airtel has cut transaction fees, refunded charges in airtime through Smarta Bundles, and struck key partnerships with retailers like Naivas to improve its agent network, especially in hard-to-reach areas.

Mobile money subscriptions jumped to 45.4 million during the quarter, accounting for 86.6% penetration in Kenya. SIM card subscriptions also rose to 76.2 million, up by 6.7%, aided by telcos’ renewed efforts to win back users. 

And Airtel is riding the wave. Its user base is now estimated at around 8 million, and its agent network is growing fast.

Even though M-PESA still has over 299,000 agents across the country, Airtel Money’s agent expansion is gaining pace. The total number of registered mobile money agents climbed 5.5% to 417,000 in Q1 2025, meaning challengers now have more reach than ever before.

Lower pricing is one of Airtel’s biggest weapons. To send KES 1,000 across networks, users pay KES 11 on Airtel, while M-PESA charges KES 13. Withdrawals cost less on Airtel too, KES 2 cheaper on average. These differences may seem small on paper, but for everyday users, they quickly add up.

The game-changer, though, was Kenya’s 2022 rollout of mobile money interoperability. That policy allowed people to send and receive money across different platforms, ending the long-standing advantage Safaricom had enjoyed by keeping its ecosystem closed. 

With those walls down, customers now move more freely, and Airtel has made it worth their while. Incentives like cashback on bank-to-wallet transfers are pulling users in.

Still, full freedom hasn’t arrived yet. Interoperability at the agent level, where users could walk into any mobile money outlet, regardless of network, is still pending. Once the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) rolls that out, and they’ve promised to, Safaricom may see even greater churn.

M-PESA isn’t going quietly. It still processes more than 30 billion transactions annually, worth over KES 38.29 trillion ($296 billion), and serves 34 million users. But it’s no longer operating in a vacuum.

Another major change is coming from the CBK’s new payments infrastructure, the Fast Payment System (FPS), which is under development. Inspired by India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI), the FPS aims to offer instant, cross-platform payments between banks, fintechs, and mobile money wallets. 

It’s being designed in partnership with India’s NPCI and, if successful, could radically reshape how digital money moves in Kenya.

By the time FPS is live, possibly by 2026, it may deliver what regulators and consumers alike have been waiting for: a truly level playing field.

The case for Kenya’s mobile money resilience is now about who adapts faster, and right now, Airtel is doing just that.

The post Safaricom’s Grip on Kenya’s Mobile Money Market Weakens as Airtel Gains Ground appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

In just six months, Safaricom has lit up dozens of new 5G sites across the country. This isn’t the Nairobi-centric rollout we’ve seen before. No glitzy launches, no billboards. Just boots on the ground and a message: we’re here, and we’re cheaper.

They’re targeting places where fibre never reached and mobile broadband failed. And while Starlink’s satellite tech has gained a solid footing in such areas, Safaricom is showing it still has home advantage.

Let me break it down. In Western Kenya, Safaricom sales agents have been going door-to-door since January, peddling 5G routers priced at just KES 3,000 ($23). That’s a 90% price drop from last year. The routers come bundled with data plans and the occasional branded t-shirt. Not exactly a tech expo, but it works.

“I was signed up in two minutes,” Paminus Osike, a new customer in Nyanza province, told us. “Starlink’s initial cost is too high, and I like that this connection isn’t fixed, but I can move around with it.” They even offered him a power bank at KES 5,000 ($39) to keep the signal alive during blackouts.

That mobility is a big deal. Unlike fibre or fixed satellite systems, Safaricom’s router can switch to 4G when 5G isn’t available. It’s portable, prepaid, and sold in the same way people buy solar panels—affordable and incremental.

The offer is appealing. Monthly data packages start from KES 4,000 ($31) for 50 Mbps and go up to KES 10,000 ($77) for 250 Mbps. That undercuts Starlink’s standard kit which starts at KES 30,000 ($231) and doesn’t offer as much flexibility.

Meanwhile, Starlink is feeling the heat. In Nairobi, it had to halt new sign-ups due to network congestion. That’s the catch with satellite internet—bandwidth is shared, and busy areas choke performance. 

As Safaricom doubles fibre speeds and launches gigabit plans in cities, it’s cornering Starlink on both ends: price and practicality.

But this isn’t just about Kenya. Starlink’s expansion across Africa has ruffled feathers. It’s now operational in 18 countries, yet faces growing resistance. In Zimbabwe, Liquid Home has slashed prices to stay competitive.

TelOne is betting on OneWeb instead. Nigeria’s a different story—Starlink’s already the third-largest ISP there, raising alarms among local operators. The complaint is simple: Starlink skips the heavy lifting—no towers, no trenches—and still grabs market share.

Safaricom, for its part, isn’t just relying on price. It’s leveraging its massive mobile network footprint—1,114 5G sites in 102 towns, touching every county, with over 780,000 active 5G smartphones. It has teamed up with Huawei and Nokia to boost infrastructure. 

In Nairobi, Safaricom has even launched 5G experience centres where users can test out virtual reality games, smart home gadgets, and industrial tech—all powered by its network.

Still, Starlink isn’t out. The satellite ISP has thrived in areas where governments and telcos have failed. Even now, it boasts over 19,000 users in Kenya, mostly in isolated parts of Rift Valley. Its appeal? Plug, mount, and connect—no cables needed.

Safaricom once pushed for tighter controls on satellite firms like Starlink, arguing that companies with no local offices shouldn’t enjoy free reign. But with regulators unmoved, Safaricom has pivoted—competing not with policy, but with value.

For a country where rural users often live on tight budgets, the timing matters. Safaricom’s bet is clear: give people what they need, at a price they can manage, and they’ll choose you—even over a space-powered internet connection.

The post Safaricom Cuts Router Prices, Expands 5G to Challenge Starlink in Rural Kenya appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

The verdict, delivered on 27 February 2025, brings an end to a prolonged case over intellectual property rights and the handling of unsolicited ideas by large corporations.

Ivusa claimed that he pitched his concept, called ‘Jichomoe,’ to Safaricom in 2010. According to him, the feature was designed to allow users to make calls without airtime, an idea he believed Safaricom later adopted without his involvement. 

Safaricom, however, refuted this, stating that its ‘Reverse Call’ service, launched in April 2019, was developed independently to address a widespread consumer need.

Justice Mugambi dismissed Ivusa’s argument, ruling that his idea was submitted voluntarily without any legal expectation of confidentiality or fiduciary obligation on Safaricom’s part. “The concept was sent unsolicited, and there was no evidence that the defendant undertook to hold it in trust or act in a fiduciary capacity,” the judge stated.

One of the key legal points in the case was the distinction between an idea and its execution. Intellectual property law, both in Kenya and globally, protects the expression of ideas rather than the ideas themselves. Justice Mugambi reinforced this principle, saying: “Copyright law protects the expression of ideas, not the ideas themselves.”

Ivusa’s failure to provide substantial proof of how ‘Jichomoe’ was implemented weakened his case. He presented only a concept note shared via email, with no supporting source code, technical diagrams, or a prototype to establish a unique expression of the idea. Without these, the court found no basis for his claims of copyright infringement, misappropriation, or unjust enrichment.

This is not the first time intellectual property issues involving unsolicited ideas have surfaced in Kenya. In a similar case, former Equity Bank employee Christopher Mwakio sued the bank in 2016, claiming it stole his idea for a mobile banking product. 

The court ruled against him, pointing to a lack of concrete evidence to prove ownership beyond the conceptual level. Globally, companies like Google and Apple have faced lawsuits over alleged idea theft, but courts often dismiss such cases unless clear contractual obligations exist.

Safaricom, Kenya’s largest telecommunications company, has previously faced accusations of appropriating ideas without compensating innovators. While no major ruling has gone against the company in such matters, these allegations have raised concerns within the country’s innovation ecosystem.

Many Kenyan innovators hesitate to pitch ideas to large corporations for fear of losing control over their intellectual property. This ruling could further discourage startups from engaging with industry leaders without legal protections, such as non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) or formalised partnerships.

Legal experts argue that the case highlights the importance of structuring idea submissions within clear contractual frameworks. “Unsolicited ideas, without agreements in place, are difficult to protect legally,” a Nairobi-based intellectual property lawyer explained. “Innovators must take proactive steps to secure their work before approaching corporations.”

The post Court Dismisses Innovator’s Case Against Safaricom Over ‘Reverse Call’ Feature appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

The lobbying, aimed directly at President William Ruto, shows the level of interest Kenya’s financial infrastructure upgrade is receiving lately.

In a letter seen by Techeconomy, Ceva formally requested a meeting with Ruto, proposing to introduce NIBSS as a strategic partner for the project. 

The letter, signed by Ceva’s Managing Director, Yatin Mehta, suggested holding the meeting on 20th or 21st March 2025. “We are writing to formally request a meeting with you at your earliest convenience,” the letter stated. “The purpose of the meeting is to introduce our partner, the Nigerian Interbank Settlement Systems (NIBSS).”

The proposed meeting, including NIBSS CEO Premier Oiwoh, head of Partnerships Yvonne Ige, and Mehta himself, also expected David Kiprono, director of Webmasters Kenya Ltd—the company behind the development of Kenya’s e-Citizen platform.

NIBSS, owned by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) alongside commercial banks, is the backbone of Nigeria’s financial transactions. Ceva, an international payments firm operating in India, Nigeria, Kenya, and Brazil, claims to process $40 billion annually. Their pitch? A solid system designed for Africa, by Africa.

“Our robust infrastructure is developed in Africa, for Africa,” Ceva wrote in its letter. “AfriGo is NIBSS’ answer to Africa having its own card processing, driving our economic independence and efficiency. India has done it with Rupay, China has done it with UnionPay, UAE has done it with Jaywan, Brazil has done it with PIX.”

The bid, however, is being resisted. Local financial heavyweights, including mobile money giant Safaricom and the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA), argue that instead of building a new FPS from scratch, the government should upgrade the existing PesaLink system. 

According to them, a fresh system could cost up to $200 million and take four years to complete, whereas improving PesaLink—a platform handling $8.5 billion annually—would be faster and cheaper.

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has yet to decide on the FPS upgrade, but the competing interests show the high stakes. While NIBSS and Ceva see an opportunity to boost Kenya’s payment sector, others warn of potential disruptions and unnecessary costs.

For now, the ball is in CBK’s court. If the Nigerian-backed proposal gains traction, it could completely change digital transactions in Kenya, enhancing interoperability across banks, SACCOS, mobile money operators like M-Pesa, and fintech firms. 

But if Safaricom and the KBA succeed in their counter-lobbying, Kenya may opt for an upgrade rather than a full-scale overhaul.

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