“The trust of our over 40 million M-PESA customers, who rely on this platform every day, is our greatest responsibility,” stated Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa, highlighting the company’s commitment to customer service amid rising concerns.
The Senate Standing Committee on Information, Communication and Technology expressed its displeasure over Safaricom PLC’s failure to appear before it to discuss pressing issues regarding service delivery and data protection. Senators voiced their frustrations regarding low internet quality, dropped calls, poor voice service, and network congestion.
The committee emphasized the urgent need for interventions to enhance service quality, reflecting a growing dissatisfaction among users of Safaricom’s services. This scrutiny comes as Safaricom continues to dominate the telecommunications market in Kenya.
In a related development, Safaricom recently announced a new privacy feature for its M-PESA service, which will conceal the sender’s phone number during money transfers. Ndegwa remarked, “We have listened to customer concerns about privacy and are introducing a new enhancement that minimizes the personal information shared while conducting Send Money transactions on M-PESA.”
According to Ndegwa, “If the recipient needs the sender’s full details, they can request us for them within 24 hours of the transaction.” This new feature aims to protect user privacy while ensuring seamless transactions.
Safaricom’s M-PESA service, which has over 40 million customers, continues to evolve with new features. The M-PESA Super App consolidates various financial services, lifestyle, and utility mini-apps into a single platform, enhancing user experience.
Additionally, the National Treasury is under pressure to meet conditions for the sale of a 15% stake in Safaricom to Vodacom, a deal that has been approved by Parliament but includes stipulations to prevent job cuts associated with the transaction.
As Safaricom navigates these challenges, it remains focused on improving its service offerings and addressing customer concerns. The company has also introduced innovative financial products, such as the Chumz app, which allows users to save as little as KES 5 and offers annual interest rates of 6% for flexible savings and 8% for locked savings.
Furthermore, the Ziidi Money Market Fund enables M-PESA customers to invest with a minimum of KES 100, while Zimele’s MMF provides annual returns of 9-10% net of fees.
Details remain unconfirmed regarding the timeline for addressing the Senate Committee’s concerns or the next steps in the ongoing negotiations with Vodacom.
