Safaricom reduces M-Pesa charges

AUGUST 20,2014.

DAILY NATION.

Safaricom has announced it will reduce the fees charged for M-Pesa transactions as it moves to counter impending competition from Equity’s planned mobile virtual network business.

The new tariffs only apply to person-to-person transactions and will take effect Thursday.

They entail a 67 per cent reduction on transfers ranging from Sh10 to Sh1,500.

Charges for sending transfers exceeding Sh1,501 have also been streamlined to an average of 0.8 per cent of the transaction value.

Safaricom CEO Mr Bob Collymore said that the company's analysis of M-pesa showed that more than 65 per cent of all person-to-person transactions are within Sh10 and Sh1,500.

“By lowering the cost of these transactions, an increased number of Kenyans will get access to affordable and basic financial services,” he said.

Mr Collymore explained that withdrawal tariffs, as well as the transaction fees for Lipa na M-pesa and all other tariffs, will remain unchanged following the tariff review.

Equity announced in May that its mobile money transfer fees would be charged at one per cent the value of a transaction and capped at Sh25.

“If you send Sh100, you will pay Sh1. If you send Sh1,000, you will pay a maximum of Sh25,” Equity Bank Group chief executive James Mwangi said.