Safaricom clarifies on 8-hour home internet downtime alert
By Aloys Michael, October 12, 2025Safaricom has retracted an earlier message that warned of an eight-hour internet disruption affecting its Home Fibre service.
In a response released on Sunday, October 12, 2025, to concerned customers, including a post directed to a social media user, @MomentaryMuse, Safaricom said the alert was sent by mistake and apologised for the confusion.
“Hi @MomentaryMuse, we are sorry the message was sent in error. Apologies for any inconvenience caused. ^MM,” read the company’s reply.
Initial message
The initial message, sent to Home Fibre subscribers on Saturday, October 11, 2025, stated that planned maintenance would take place from Sunday, October 12, at 10:00 pm to Monday, October 13, at 6:00 am, during which internet and payment services would be unavailable.
The telecommunication company had informed users that payment services would be unavailable during the period.
“Jambo, we’re doing a Fiber service update on Oct 12 (10 PM) to Oct 13 (6 AM). Your connection may be interrupted,” read the notice in part.
“Payment services will be unavailable. Thank you.”
However, it has since been confirmed that no such maintenance is scheduled for that time.
Safaricom Home Fiber is a broadband service that delivers high-speed internet directly to homes through fiber-optic cables.
It includes a free Wi-Fi router upon installation and is available in select urban and suburban areas across Kenya.
Recent disruptions and strategic moves
The mistaken alert comes weeks after Safaricom announced a 25 per cent discount on new business fiber connections as part of a two-month promotional campaign. The move is aimed at strengthening its market position against growing competition from other internet service providers.
Safaricom, which serves over 678,000 fixed-internet customers and holds a 36.5 per cent market share, has also bundled the offer with business credit options to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
September 2025 was a challenging month for the telco, marked by disruptions to its Fuliza overdraft service and a widespread network outage affecting calls, mobile money, and internet connectivity.
Customers have increasingly turned to social media to report and seek updates on service reliability, prompting real-time responses from the company’s support team.