Safaricom will temporarily suspend M-PESA services for three hours on Monday, September 22, 2025, to implement what it describes as the most significant system upgrade in a decade.

The planned maintenance by the largest telecommunications company in Kenya will run from 12:30AM to 3:30AM, affecting all M-PESA services, including airtime top-ups.

Safaricom has assured customers the timing was deliberately chosen to minimise disruption, with the upgrade marking a bold step forward for millions of M-PESA users across Kenya.

The firm is introducing Fintech 2.0, a next-generation core platform designed to strengthen resilience, expand capacity, and unlock AI-powered innovations that will transform how customers interact with the service.

“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,” said Safaricom CEO Dr Peter Ndegwa.

For customers, the impact of the brief downtime will be immediate and far-reaching.

The new platform will raise processing capacity from 4,500 to 6,000 transactions per second, with the ability to scale up to 12,000 transactions per second as demand grows.

This means faster payments, smoother transactions during peak hours, and greater reliability across the ecosystem.

The upgrade also introduces active-active architecture across multiple hosting sites, ensuring higher resilience and minimising service interruptions, a key reassurance for businesses and individuals who depend on M-PESA daily.

Safaricom described the investment as part of its ongoing promise to deliver “always-on, safe, secure, and worry-free financial products and services” to its customers.

“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,” the company noted.

The upgrade signals a new era for M-PESA, cementing its role not just as a mobile money platform but as a foundation for Kenya’s digital economy.

By embedding AI capabilities and scaling for future demand, Safaricom is positioning M-PESA to deliver smarter, more personalised financial services, while ensuring the platform keeps pace with Kenya’s fast-growing digital transactions landscape.