M-Pesa services to go dark: Safaricom warns of major disruptions

Safaricom PLC has announced a scheduled system maintenance set for the night of Sunday, August 11, 2024, in a move aimed at continuous innovation and service enhancement.

The maintenance is planned from Sunday 11 pm to 4 am on Monday, August 12, 2024, during which several of Safaricom’s services may experience intermittent access.

The telecommunications giant, in a statement released today, emphasized its commitment to connecting customers with endless possibilities and ensuring worry-free superior customer experiences.

“We are continuously innovating and enhancing our services to connect our customers with endless possibilities. To meet our promise to always offer worry-free superior customer experiences, we will be conducting a scheduled system maintenance on the night of Sunday 1 1 th August 2024, from 11 pm to 4 am on Monday 12th August,” Safaricom announced in a notice.

The specific services affected by this maintenance include Lipa na M-Pesa Paybill and Buy Goods services, International money transfers (Western Union), M-Pesa Global, and the M-Pesa and mySafaricom Apps.

Despite the planned interruptions, Safaricom assured customers that all other services including calls, data, SMS, and all other M-PESA services will be available as usual.

The company highlighted that the timing of the maintenance has been deliberately chosen to result in the least inconvenience to its users.

“During the maintenance, access to Lipa na M-PESA Paybill and Buy Goods services, International money transfers (Western Union), M-PESA Global, as well as M-PESA and mySafaricom Apps will be intermittent. All other services including calls, data, SMS and all other M-PESA services will be available as usual,” Safaricom said.

Adding that; “The timing of this maintenance has been planned to result in the least inconvenience to our customers.”

Safaricom apologized for any potential disruption caused and expressed appreciation for customer understanding as the company strives to provide best-in-class services.

As Kenya’s leading mobile network operator, Safaricom’s services are integral to daily transactions and communications across the country.

This maintenance comes as part of the company’s ongoing efforts to ensure the reliability and efficiency of its network infrastructure.

For further inquiries, customers are encouraged to reach out to Safaricom’s customer care services.