Safaricom Introduces Real Time Price Checks on M-PESA

Safaricom (NSE: SCOM) updated its mobile money transfer service M-PESA to enable customers to automatically receive information on the cost of each transaction.

As part of its drive to enhance pricing transparency on the payment platform, the updates will be made available to all 24 million M-PESA customers in three phases, with the first phase starting this week.

“As we align with recommendations made by the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK), we hope that this latest innovation will enhance the customer experience on the M-PESA platform. This follows a number of proactive enhancements we have delivered on M-PESA such as Hakikisha which have reduced the number of erroneous transactions,” said Stephen Chege, Director – Corporate Affairs, Safaricom.

Set to be rolled out in three phases, customers will first receive notifications on charges paid for a transaction as part of the M-PESA confirmation message.

In the second phase, customers will receive a pop up message informing them of any charges prior to the transactions, while the third phase will see the service being made available to value-added M-PESA financial products including M-Shwari, KCB M-PESA, Okoa Stima and M-Tiba. The second and third phases of the update will be rolled out in coming months.

Safaricom has in the last six months implemented a range of technical upgrades and tests in readiness for the customer-friendly developments that alert them as to how much they are spending per transaction, with no downtime to customers.

The changes are part of the enriched second generation M-PESA system which was implemented in April 2015. In addition to increasing M-PESA’s transactions capacity, the new system has improved system stability, enabled the support of more features and the rollout of new features on the system.

Most recently, Safaricom announced that it would be removing all transactions costs for amounts under Sh100 under the M-PESA Kadogo proposition launched in November 2016.

Safaricom (NSE: SCOM) updated its mobile money transfer service M-PESA to enable customers to automatically receive information on the cost of each transaction.

As part of its drive to enhance pricing transparency on the payment platform, the updates will be made available to all 24 million M-PESA customers in three phases, with the first phase starting this week.

“As we align with recommendations made by the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK), we hope that this latest innovation will enhance the customer experience on the M-PESA platform. This follows a number of proactive enhancements we have delivered on M-PESA such as Hakikisha which have reduced the number of erroneous transactions,” said Stephen Chege, Director – Corporate Affairs, Safaricom.

Set to be rolled out in three phases, customers will first receive notifications on charges paid for a transaction as part of the M-PESA confirmation message.

In the second phase, customers will receive a pop up message informing them of any charges prior to the transactions, while the third phase will see the service being made available to value-added M-PESA financial products including M-Shwari, KCB M-PESA, Okoa Stima and M-Tiba. The second and third phases of the update will be rolled out in coming months.

Safaricom has in the last six months implemented a range of technical upgrades and tests in readiness for the customer-friendly developments that alert them as to how much they are spending per transaction, with no downtime to customers.

The changes are part of the enriched second generation M-PESA system which was implemented in April 2015. In addition to increasing M-PESA’s transactions capacity, the new system has improved system stability, enabled the support of more features and the rollout of new features on the system.

Most recently, Safaricom announced that it would be removing all transactions costs for amounts under Sh100 under the M-PESA Kadogo proposition launched in November 2016.