Airtel Kenya has issued a statement acknowledging that the telecommunications company is experiencing technical challenges.
In a statement on Wednesday, December 4, Airtel said the challenges are affecting all transactions between Airtel Money and M-Pesa.
The telecommunications company said that the affected transactions include sending money to and receiving funds from M-Pesa, making payments to M-Pesa tills, and processing pay bill payments.
“Dear Customer, please note that there are technical challenges affecting all transactions between Airtel Money and M-PESA, i.e., sending money to and receiving from M-Pesa, paying into M-Pesa tills, and paying into M-Pesa pay bills,” the statement read in part.
Airtel added that it is working with Safaricom to resolve the issue and will update its customers once the matter is resolved.
“We are working with the M-PESA team to resolve this on priority and will notify you once the issue is resolved,” Airtel Kenya said.
However, all other Airtel money services are working fine including the Airtel Paybills like KPLC, e-citizen, 522533, 400200 and 247247, airtime top up using Airtel Money, deposits and withdrawals including moving funds from your bank to your Airtel Money account.
“Dial *334# to access Airtel Money,” Airtel added.
In other News, M-PESA Africa, is expanding its partnership with global payment infrastructure provider Thunes to enable seamless payments in China.
The upcoming integration, announced on Friday, will allow M-Pesa users from Kenya and Tanzania to make direct payments at Chinese merchants by simply scanning QR codes through their M-Pesa Super App, eliminating the need for forex conversions.
Addressing a major pain point for African travelers in China who previously struggled with the country's predominantly cashless payment ecosystem dominated by Alipay and WeChat Pay.
This expansion builds upon Safaricom's existing relationships with Chinese payment giants and leverages Thunes' extensive global payment infrastructure, which connects to over 7 billion mobile wallets and bank accounts worldwide through more than 320 payment methods.
Finally, Safaricom PLC Business arm has enhanced its 5G for Business offering to provide SMEs with faster connectivity, promising speeds five times higher than current levels to support real-time collaboration and seamless operations.
The announcement, made during the 'Grow with Safaricom Business' Western Kenya edition as part of the Sambaza Furaha na Safaricom Caravan, includes a promotional 25% discount on all 5G plans for businesses signing up between November 29th and December 31st, 2024.
According to the Kenya Institute of Public Policy, Research and Analysis, the initiative aims to support Kenya's 7.4 million MSMEs, which employ approximately 14.9 million people and contribute 30% to the country's GDP.
As Safaricom CEO Dr. Peter Ndegwa C.B.S emphasized, this upgrade will enable SMEs to access enterprise-grade internet performance at affordable rates, improving their productivity and customer interactions in a fast growing digital marketplace.