Safaricom reduces M-PESA tariffs by up to 45% for lower value transaction bands

As guided by the Central Bank of Kenya and taking into account the Principles on the Pricing of Mobile Money Services, Safaricom has taken the decision to reduce its M-PESA tariffs by up to 45% for lower value transaction bands. This is in consideration of the expiry of the period for the zero-rated M-PESA transactions and the ongoing Covid-19 and economic circumstances.

“As part of different measures to help the country better weather the Covid-19 Pandemic, we announced the temporary zero-rating of M-PESA transactions in March… Our regulator, the Central Bank of Kenya under the leadership of Dr. Patrick Njoroge has been instrumental in the formulation of this and other measures across the financial sector which have resulted in significant gains in the form of the ongoing economic recovery,” said Peter Ndegwa, CEO, Safaricom in a statement.

These tariff reductions will affect more than 90 percent of all customer transactions when sending money. It will now cost Kshs 6 to send between Kshs 101 and Kshs 500, down from Kshs 11. Transactions of between Kshs 1,501 and Kshs 2,500 will cost Kshs 32 down from Kshs 41.

All transactions of Kshs 100 and below will remain free. In addition, all M-PESA customers will continue to enjoy free transactions between M-PESA and bank accounts.

The price cuts are permanent, effective January 1, 2021 and will enable the telco’s more than 26.8 million customers to continue enjoying lower costs whenever they send money.

Safaricom’s new, reduced tariffs will equally apply to transactions for micro-businesses under the telco’s new Pochi La Biashara service, and for Lipa Na M-PESA businesses using the Transacting Till to make payments.

Maximum Amount Customer Can Transact Daily	Maximum Amount Customer Can Hold in M-PESA
300,000	300,000

The new M-PESA Tariffs will be as below:

Send Money
Min	Max	Fee
0	49	0
50	100	0
101	500	6
501	1000	12
1001	1500	22
1501	2500	32
2501	3500	51
3501	5000	55
5001	7500	75
7501	10000	87
10001	15000	97
15001	20000	102
20001	25000	105
25001	30000	105
30001	35000	105
35001	40000	105
40001	45000	105
45001	50000	105
50001	70000	105
70001	150,000	105

Just like Safaricom, Airtel Kenya has announced that its customers will be able to send up to Kshs 100 free of charge to any subscriber or network from January 1, 2021.

As per the guiding principles on pricing issues by CBK on December 17, 2020, Airtel has amended its pricing for person to person transfers and Airtel Money wallet to bank.

“All Airtel Money customers can transfer without any charges up to Kshs 100 to any customers and network with no daily limit to the number of such transactions. Additionally, all transactions from Airtel Money wallets to customers’ bank accounts will be free of any charge,” noted Prasanta Das Sarma, the MD, Airtel Kenya.

“Airtel Kenya believes that these new measures will help Kenyans to manage better the economic shocks presented by the pandemic and will help in maintaining the growth of cashless transactions.”