Safaricom already serves most of Kenya’s mobile users, while  M-PESA controlled 89.1% of the country’s mobile money market in March 2026, far ahead of Airtel Money’s 10.9% share, according to data by the Communications Authority of Kenya. 

With relatively few new customers left to acquire, future growth depends on persuading existing users to spend more time and money within the M-PESA ecosystem. Pata More reflects that shift, offering larger data bundles, cheaper merchant payments and bundled services at a time when customers are becoming more selective about their spending and rivals are competing more aggressively on price.

Rather than a seasonal promotion, Pata More is designed as a long-term customer value proposition, Safaricom told TechCabal on Saturday.

“Pata More responds to the evolving customer needs. Customers are looking for more value, convenience, and support from the services they use every day,” the company said. “Safaricom has been enhancing its offers across connectivity, M-PESA, devices, business solutions and care, and Pata More brings these improvements together under one simple promise: more value from Safaricom.”

The battle for everyday payments

The most significant changes are within  M-PESA, where Safaricom is lowering the cost of making and accepting small-value payments.

The company has already doubled the threshold for fee-free payments made through Pochi la Biashara, its payment service for informal traders and sole proprietors who want to accept digital payments without registering a business. Customers can now send up to KES 200 ($1.55) free of charge, up from  KES 100 ($0.77), while fees on larger transactions will be capped at KES 50 ($0.39) for 90 days.

From August 7, Safaricom will also raise the fee-free threshold on Lipa na M-PESA Buy Goods, the merchant payment service used by registered businesses—to KES 500 ($3.87) from KES 200 ($1.55). Businesses transferring money from their Buy Goods tills to M-PESA wallets or PayBill accounts, which businesses use to collect customer payments such as bills and invoices, will also pay roughly half the previous transfer charges.

The changes target the millions of low-value transactions processed across Kenya every day, where even modest fees can determine whether customers choose digital payments or cash. Safaricom believes reducing those costs will encourage more merchants to accept M-PESA while giving customers more reasons to pay digitally.

“The objective is to make everyday digital payments more affordable and convenient for customers and small businesses,” Safaricom told TechCabal.

According to the company, M-PESA Kadogo, its tariff that waives fees on selected low-value transactions, processed 17.1 billion transactions during the financial year ended March 2026, accounting for 58% of all activity on the platform.

That means more than half of all M-PESA transactions already come from small-value payments, suggesting the platform’s next phase of growth depends less on larger transactions than on increasing the volume of everyday purchases flowing through its network. The latest tariff changes are intended to remove some of the pricing friction that still pushes those payments towards cash.

“By expanding free Pochi transactions to KES 200 ($1.55), capping Pochi transaction fees at KES 50 ($0.39) for 90 days and raising the Lipa na M-PESA Buy Goods Kadogo threshold from KES 200 ($1.55) to KES 500 ($3.87), we are empowering small businesses by ensuring they keep more of what they earn while giving customers more flexibility to pay digitally,” the company said.

Why lower fees make sense

Lowering transaction fees may seem counterintuitive for a business that generated KES 182 billion ($1.41 billion) in M-PESA revenue during the year ended March 2026, accounting for 45% of Safaricom Kenya’s service revenue. But the company is betting that cheaper payments will encourage customers and merchants to transact more frequently, allowing higher transaction volumes to offset lower fees.

“Our focus is on unlocking market value for everyone,” Safaricom said. “When services become more affordable, useful and easier to access, customers and businesses are more likely to use them consistently. Lower transaction costs support wider digital acceptance, especially for small payments.”

The strategy also reflects M-PESA’s evolving role within Safaricom’s wider business. Rather than operating as a standalone payments platform, it has become a gateway to a much broader ecosystem that includes airtime purchases, data bundles, bill payments, merchant services and credit products. Every additional  M-PESA transaction therefore creates more opportunities for customers to use other Safaricom services.  

The company said it will track adoption of Pochi la Biashara, usage of Pochi Kadogo, merchant activity, transaction values, customer behaviour and feedback from small businesses during the 90-day period before deciding whether to extend and refine the programme.

“Success will be measured by whether the changes are delivering real value to both customers and merchants,” Safaricom said.

Why data got bigger

The same strategy extends to Safaricom’s connectivity business, where the company is increasing value without reducing headline prices.  Customers buying the KES 20 ($0.15) daily bundle will now receive 250MB instead of 150MB. The KES 99 ($0.77) bundle increases from 1GB to 1.5GB, while the KES 1,000 ($7.75) monthly bundle now includes 21.5GB, more than double the previous 10GB allocation.

The move narrows the value gap with Airtel Kenya, which has spent the past two years competing aggressively through larger bundles, promotional offers and lower effective data prices. Safaricom has avoided outright price wars, choosing instead to increase the amount of data customers receive while keeping headline prices unchanged.

The strategy is also visible across Safaricom’s other consumer businesses. Fibre customers now receive internet speeds of up to 2.5 times their previous plans, selected smartphones come bundled with connectivity and device insurance, while commercial drivers can access packages that combine mobile connectivity with ride hailing applications and Google Maps.

One app, one ecosystem

My OneApp, Safaricom’s super app, receives far less attention than the tariff changes, yet it ties together much of what Safaricom announced. The application allows customers to manage M-PESA, connectivity, fibre services, and customer support from a single interface.

“My OneApp is an important part of improving customer experience by bringing more of the Safaricom experience into one place,” Safaricom told TechCabal. “The aim is to make everyday interactions simpler and more convenient, while customers continue to access Safaricom services through the channels they already know.”

In April, Safaricom told TechCabal it plans to decommission the standalone M-PESA and mySafaricom apps six months after My OneApp’s launch in April, consolidating its consumer services into a single application.

The next stage of growth

Safaricom describes Pata More as a long-term customer proposition rather than a short-term campaign.

“While some offers may run for defined periods, the overall aim is to give customers and businesses more value, convenience and support from every interaction with Safaricom,” the company told TechCabal.

The initiative reflects how the company is approaching growth in a market where it already leads in mobile and mobile money. With fewer new customers to win, Safaricom is looking to increase activity across services its subscribers already use, from M-PESA and mobile data to fibre broadband and devices.

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