Safaricom has confirmed that there are technical faults in its payment service ‘M-Pesa Paybill’ since Monday 22nd Jan.
“We are experiencing a recurring service intermittency affecting some Paybill payments,” Safaricom’s said in a statement sent out on Tuesday. The telco had issued a statement on Monday evening stating that the “technical issue” had been resolved.
In the era of digital banking, M-Pesa Paybill is a crucial component in mobile-to-bank, and bank-to-mobile transactions, as well as the payment of utilities and other services, including shopping.
For electricity tokens customers, for example, the interruption caused a massive inconvenience in their KPLC token purchases. Since the abolition of KPLC tokens sold in retail shops, electricity consumers rely on the Paybill number ‘888880’ to purchase tokens.
“I paid 100 for my tokens last night at 21:58…and haven’t gotten my tokens and yet money was deducted from my mpesa. Kenya Power app is not showing any of my last night transactions,” a customer complained in X (formerly Twitter).
Earlier this month, M-Pesa experienced a technical failure which Safaricom attributed to scheduled maintenance. However, it was not clear why the company did not alert its customers.
Arbitrary M-Pesa interruptions have serious repercussions for an economy that depends on the mobile banking system, which MPESA dominates. Moreover, delays have crippled essential services in the retail services for hours.
Safaricom has apologized for the hitches, but industry stakeholders have contemplated the rejuvenation of other mobile payment options such as Airtel money.
