Safaricom pushes back plans to block customer contact details when using Lipa na M-Pesa

Safaricom’s plans to begin barring customer contact details while making payments with Lipa na M-Pesa at the end of this month have been pushed back.

As first reported by Business Daily, the telco claimed technical issues as the reason for the delay in the introduction of the plan.

Under the new policy, Safaricom only displays the initial name and a few digits of the phone number of customers making payments through the platform, essentially concealing the customer’s contact information.

“As an update to our previous communication regarding data minimisation on the M-Pesa API, we will be making adjustments to accommodate several of our partners who are experiencing technical challenges integrating the minimised APIs,” Safaricom told merchants.

Safaricom did not specify a new date for the service’s rollout, but stated that it was in discussions with its partners on a new date.

“As such, partners will continue to receive customer phone numbers through the M-Pesa API beyond the earlier communicated deadline of 30th June 2022,” it said.

“This will ensure partners can continue to adequately process payments as we assist them to resolve resulting technical challenges.”

Once implemented, the change is intended to prevent personal information from being traded to advertising or leaking to criminals in accordance with data protection regulatory standards.