Safaricom, Kenya’s leading telecommunications company, has announced a new update to its M-PESA platform that is aimed at improving the convenience and safety of customers’ transactions.
This follows uproar online on the SIM update roll out where customers received M-PESA prompts and demanded to be assured their money is safe.
“Customers who receive the SIM update will get an automatic M-PESA prompt on their phones to accept the new menu,” the company said.
In the new system, M-PESA agent withdrawals will now require customers to key in the Agent Number, Store Number, Amount and PIN, which will be validated to avoid accidental withdrawals from the wrong agent.
Safaricom has deployed the new solution on the M-PESA app, M-PESA Business app, and M-PESA on *334#, and is currently updating customer SIM cards with the new menu.
Safaricom has stated that their M-PESA platform now has the capacity to roll out new features without downtime, with a target of 99.99% availability or less than 53 minutes of system unavailability in a year.
The company has reassured customers that their money is safe and that updates are being rolled out with no downtime.