With market growth slowing, Kenya’s top telco is shifting focus from finding new subscribers to getting existing ones to spend more.
As a mean to encourage costumer to use its services more often Kenya’ biggest telecommunication company Safaricom has decided to make M-PESA payment cheaper, boosting internet speed and increasing mobile data allocations rather than simply adding new subscribers.
Announced on Friday under the banner of “Pata More”a Swahili phrase meaning “get more” the new customer value initiative touches nearly every major segment of Safaricom’s consumer offerings. The sweeping upgrades stretch across M-PESA, mobile data bundles, fibre broadband, smartphone financing, and customer support channels.
Safaricom already dominates Kenya’s mobile market, with M-PESA holding an 89.1% share against Airtel Money’s 10.9% as of March 2026, according to the Communications Authority of Kenya.
With market saturation limiting new user growth, Safaricom’s future strategy relies on increasing spend among existing subscribers. Pata More drives this shift by offering larger data bundles, lower merchant payment fees, and bundled services to counter rising price sensitivity and rival competition.
Safaricom confirmed to TechCabal on Saturday that Pata More is a permanent customer value framework not a temporary promotion.
“Pata More responds to evolving customer needs, delivering greater value, convenience, and everyday support,” Safaricom stated. “By consolidating our upgrades across connectivity, M-PESA, devices, business solutions and customer care, Pata More unifies these benefits under a single commitment: more value from Safaricom.”
Lowering transaction fees seems counterintuitive for a division that brought in KES 182 billion ($1.41 billion) 45% of Safaricom Kenya’s service revenue in FY2026. Yet, Safaricom is betting that higher transaction velocity will easily offset lower per-transaction margins.
“When services become more affordable, usage rises consistently,” Safaricom stated, noting that lower fees accelerate digital payment adoption for small merchants.
Ultimately, M-PESA is no longer just a money transfer tool; it’s the gateway to Safaricom’s wider ecosystem. Increased payment activity directly feeds into higher consumption of data, credit, and merchant services.
To drive digital adoption, Safaricom has doubled the fee-free limit for Pochi la Biashara its service targeting informal traders from KES 100 ($0.77) to KES 200 ($1.55), while capping fees on larger transactions at KES 50 ($0.39) for 90 days.
Starting August 7, the company will also raise the fee-free threshold for Lipa na M-PESA Buy Goods from KES 200 ($1.55) to KES 500 ($3.87). Additionally, transaction fees for merchants moving funds from Buy Goods tills to M-PESA wallets or PayBill accounts will be cut roughly in half.
These updates directly target Kenya’s vast volume of microtransactions, where transaction fees often dictate whether a customer pays digitally or uses cash.
“The objective is to make everyday digital payments more affordable and convenient for customers and small businesses,” Safaricom told TechCabal.
The strategy aligns with existing user behavior. Safaricom’s zero-rated M-PESA Kadogo tier processed 17.1 billion transactions in the financial year ending March 2026 representing 58% of all platform activity. With over half of M-PESA’s volume already rooted in low-value payments, future growth rests on capturing even more daily cash transactions by removing price friction.
“By expanding free Pochi transactions, capping fees, and raising the Buy Goods Kadogo threshold, we are empowering small businesses to retain more earnings while giving consumers greater flexibility,” the company added.
Safaricom is applying the same value-add strategy to its connectivity segment, boosting data allowances while keeping base prices fixed by increasing KES 20 ($0.15) daily from 150MB to 250MB, KES 99 ($0.77) bundle moved to 1.5GB from 1GB and KES 1,000 ($7.75) monthly increasing to 21.5GB (more than double the previous 10GB limit).
My OneApp combines M-PESA, mobile data, home internet, and customer care into a single platform. Safaricom introduced the app in April to make everyday transactions easier.
Within six months of launch, the company plans to shut down its old M-PESA and mySafaricom apps so all users move to this single app.
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Safaricom says Pata More is a permanent strategy not a temporary promo.
Because Safaricom already serves most Kenyans, it can’t rely on winning new customers to grow. Instead, it wants current users to spend more time and money using its services including M-PESA, data, home internet and phones.
