Safaricom, Kenya's leading telecommunications company, has announced a significant investment of $309.6 million (KES 40 billion) annually in the overhaul of its mobile money platform, M-Pesa. The move is aimed at ensuring zero downtime, enhancing security, and increasing scalability, as the company faces growing competition and cyber threats in the Kenyan mobile money market.

M-Pesa, launched in 2007, has become an integral part of Kenyan life, processing over 21 million transactions daily and touching nearly every facet of the economy. However, with its core infrastructure under pressure from high transaction volumes, growing cyber threats, and high user expectations, the platform requires more than just tweaks – it needs a strategic repositioning.

According to Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa, the investment is focused on capacity, functionality, stability, and resilience, with the goal of reducing downtime to zero. "This year we will be going to what we are calling M-Pesa 2.0, which is the next phase of the M-Pesa platform," Ndegwa said. "It's about investing for capacity, for functionality, for stability, and also for resilience, which is about ensuring that customers can always rely on our ecosystem."

The overhaul is expected to move M-Pesa from legacy systems to a cloud-native, API-first architecture, which could have implications for speed, security, stability, and interoperability. This aligns with the Central Bank of Kenya's push for greater integrations across commercial banks, mobile money operators, fintechs, microfinance financial institutions, and Savings and Credit Co-Operative Societies (SACCOs).

If M-Pesa 2.0 delivers on its technical promise, it could become a critical pillar of the interoperability push, making it harder for competitors to bypass. The investment is also seen as a defensive and offensive posture, as Safaricom faces increasing competition from banks, fintech startups, and global tech players.

M-Pesa's mobile money market share has fallen to 91% in 2024 Q4, down 2.3 percentage points from the previous quarter, as rivals continue to gain ground. Airtel Money, its closest competitor, rose 8.9% from 7.6% – its fifth consecutive quarter of growth.

Cybersecurity is also a major concern, with digital fraud rising in Kenya. M-Pesa's scale makes it a high-value target for hackers, and the reputational damage from a major breach could be devastating. To address this, Safaricom is deploying ethical hackers to test the system, beefing up system audits, and embedding fraud prevention into every layer of the platform.

Ndegwa emphasized the importance of securing customer trust, stating, "Our customers trust us, and for us to actually secure that trust, we have to continue to keep ahead of the crooks." The company's goal is to ensure reliable, always-on, safe, and secure services, which requires significant investment.

The overhaul is expected to be completed within six to 12 months, with the aim of achieving zero-customer downtime. This would be a significant achievement, given that most Kenyan banks shut services for close to 48 hours over the weekends to undertake upgrades.

Safaricom's $309.6 million annual investment in M-Pesa 2.0 could be a strategic reset for the company, setting the standard for what modern fintech infrastructure must look like – reliable, secure, and resilient. As the Kenyan mobile money market continues to evolve, Safaricom's commitment to innovation and customer trust will be crucial in maintaining its dominance.