Nairobi, June 15 ; Kenya's second largest Telco, Airtel, is experiencing an outage, with Airtel Money users unable to access crucial financial services.
The outage on the evening of Sunday, June 15, is affecting services like M-pesa to Airtel Money Transactions, Bank to Airtel Money transactions, pay bill payments, and Agent withdrawals.
Despite a recent system upgrade, Airtel Money subscribers are still grappling with erratic service delivery.
Last month, the Telco announced a major system overhaul aimed at enhancing customer experience and introducing innovative financial solutions.
However, customers have continued to experience failed transactions, delayed money transfers, and system errors during withdrawals, leading to growing frustration among users.
Airtel Money customers who spoke to Julisha Media on Sunday, June 15, reveal they are experiencing failed transactions, delayed money transfers, and system errors during withdrawals and Money transfers.
Many Airtel Money users now say the disruptions have severely affected both personal and business activities, leading to growing frustration among users.
One Aritel money user James Gichuhi, is now calling upon the company to expedite the process of solving its internal technical challenges and avert a possible exit to other mobile phone service providers by angry clients.
" It is very discouraging when you have money in your mobile account which you cannot utilize. I have money in my Airtel Money which I cannot use even in an emergency. It is unfair for someone to hold your money hostage and only release it when he or she decides to do so. That is akin to what Airtel company is subjecting us to,” he laments.
Faith Muimi, says the issues surrounding the Airtel money platform recently, has heavily impacted her business operations and fears she may lose more in coming days.
Ms. Muimi, says the company needs to come up with cutting edge technology to help resolve its technical challenges and avoid subjecting its clients to similar situations in the future.
“So now I migrate to your Smart Box internet, today is the renewal date. I have money in Airtel Money which I cannot transact business with. I am losing business as we speak,” she laments.
Others like Wambui have faulted the Company for dragging its feet in resolving the challenges affecting its systems and termed the problem an affront to its faithful clients who have stood by the company for years.
Apart from challenges with money transactions, Wambui has also cited challenges with unreliable data bundles, slow internet speed and inconsistent network coverage.
“After all, the botched system upgrade can no longer entrust this company with my money. I bought 1 GB data through my Airtel money account but I am yet to get it. I am calling upon the management of the company to do something fast and avert the risk of losing your customers through inexperienced IT technicians.” she told Julisha.co.ke
The telco has yet to issue any official statement on the outage, at the time of this publication.
Meanwhile,.Airtel Africa plans to list its mobile money unit, Airtel Money, in the first half of 2026 as the telecoms giant seeks to capitalise on the growing demand for digital payment services across the continent.
Airtel recently confirmed the listing plan amid growing investor appetite for Africa’s fintech sector, particularly mobile payment platforms that offer millions of unbanked users access to transactions, credit, and remittances. Airtel Africa, listed in London and operating in 14 African countries, said the IPO would give Airtel Money the independence and visibility to scale its operations.
The planned IPO signals Airtel Money’s move to close the gap with rivals like Safaricom’s M-Pesa and MTN’s MoMo in the booming digital payments market. By getting autonomy and raising capital from the IPO, Airtel Money hopes to compete with heavyweights that enjoy large user bases and deep market penetration.
While the company did not disclose the exchange or fundraising target, it reaffirmed its intention to go public, first announced in 2024 when it began exploring a potential spin-off of the fast-growing unit. The company had initially set a target of July 2025.
“We are committed to the IPO timeline of July. We still have six months to figure out the details for it,” Sunil Taldar, Airtel Africa CEO, said in January. “Our overall priority remains to invest in the strong growth of the business.”
Airtel Money has emerged as a key engine of growth for the group, with revenues from the service rising.
Airtel Kenya’s mobile money service, Airtel Money, grew its market share from 2.9% to 7.6% in the year to September 2024. The growth was fuelled by free Airtel-to-Airtel transfers, lower fees than Safaricom’s M-PESA for sending money across networks, and cheaper withdrawal charges.
Over the same period, M-PESA’s market share declined from 97.0% to 92.3%, with Airtel Money steadily eating into its dominance, once reaching 98%, according to the data by industry regulator the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA).
With over 40 million mobile money users in Kenya, affordability has become a key factor for Kenyans when choosing how to transact. “Subscriptions to mobile money services increased from 39.8 million to 40.6 million, translating to a penetration rate of 78.9% during the reference period,” the CA said in a statement.
In 2020, Airtel Money eliminated charges for Airtel-to-Airtel transfers in an attempt to grow its market share. Sending KES 1,000 ($7.7) to other networks costs KES 11 on Airtel Money, compared to M-PESA’s KES 13 ($0.093), while withdrawing the same amount costs KES 29 ($0.22) on Airtel Money—KES 2 less than M-PESA.
Airtel Money has also expanded access points to address past concerns about its limited agent network. In 2024, it partnered with supermarket chain Naivas to increase its agent network.
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has pushed for full mobile money interoperability for unrestricted transactions across networks.
While progress has been made—customers can send money between networks and make interoperable utility and business payments—agent interoperability remains unrealised, despite CBK’s pledge to implement it by 2024. This missing element, which would allow users to access services at any agent regardless of their provider, keeps the ecosystem incomplete and sustains the dominance of larger players like M-PESA.
By September 2024, the overall mobile money agency network had grown to over 365,000 agents, up from 347,700.
Airtel Money’s adoption has also been supported by CBK’s 2024 decision to increase the transaction daily limit cap from KES 300,000 ($2322) to KES 500,000 ($3870) to attract high-value customers and businesses. Customers can keep funds received from other wallets for over a week, eliminating the previous requirement to withdraw or have the money sent back to the sender.
