M-Pesa now leads Safaricom’s business as active users and revenue surge

Here is the headline takeaway. M-Pesa has more one‑month active users than Safaricom’s mobile network and it now drives the largest share of the company’s service revenue. It is a turning point for Safaricom and a big moment for Kenya’s digital economy, where mobile money has shifted from helpful utility to daily essential.

• M-Pesa’s one‑month active users reached 37.9 million, slightly ahead of 37.5 million mobile subscribers.
• M-Pesa contributes 44% of Safaricom’s total service revenue, out‑earning voice and data combined.
• Growth is powered by new digital services, merchant tools, and a major platform upgrade that boosts reliability.
• Kenyan authorities are weighing structural separation of M-Pesa from the core telco, a move that could reshape the market.

Why does this milestone matter for Safaricom and Kenya?

For years, M-Pesa was the crown jewel inside Safaricom. Now it feels like the whole treasure chest. As TechCabal’s Emmanuel Paul reported, more Safaricom customers rely on M-Pesa than on the traditional network. Safaricom’s own H1 FY26 investor update backs that up. The margin is narrow, but the message is clear. Payments, lending, and merchant services are becoming the company’s core, not the add‑on.

Think of it this way. In Kenya, M-Pesa is not just how people send money. It is how they pay for matatus, groceries, utilities, and increasingly, how businesses settle with suppliers. That everyday gravity is now reflected in Safaricom’s user mix and its revenue engine.

What changed to push M-Pesa ahead?

It is a mix of execution and useful innovation. CEO Peter Ndegwa has emphasized a segment‑led approach that pairs consumer tools with small business solutions. On the ground, that shows up in affordable “Kadogo” transactions that keep costs low for small payments, as well as simpler tools for the 2.4 million merchants that accept M-Pesa.

The real kicker has been the tech backbone. Safaricom completed a sweeping upgrade of the M-Pesa platform, designed to scale smoothly and cut outages. As TechTrendsKE detailed, the new platform aims to handle bigger volumes while reducing friction for everyday tasks. That investment became even more urgent after incidents like the major outage that left millions stranded. Reliability is the quiet feature that keeps people from churning.

Is M-Pesa now the main revenue engine?

Yes. M-Pesa brought in Sh88.1 billion, or 44% of service revenue, which is more than voice, data, and SMS combined. That shifts how investors will value Safaricom and how the company prioritizes product roadmaps. It also pushes Safaricom deeper into risk and compliance, since payments carry different obligations than telecom services.

Under the hood, M-Pesa continues to add features that make it sticky. Shared wallets for families, upgraded merchant dashboards, and smarter controls that help block fraud attempts. The quiet star is machine learning, which is increasingly part of the platform’s defense layer. You can see that direction in our look at AI‑driven security on M-Pesa.

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What are regulators worried about?

When one company powers such a big slice of payments infrastructure, regulators sit up. Kenya’s Treasury has floated the idea of splitting Safaricom into separate units that include the core telco, a towers company, and M-Pesa. The goal is to boost competition and reduce systemic risk if there is a major outage or cyber incident.

Not everyone agrees on a full spin‑off. Investors tied to the telco and fintech assets argue that the integrated model still delivers value through shared distribution, customer support, and bundled products. For context, Vodacom and Vodafone together hold a sizable minority stake in Safaricom, and their view carries weight with the market. However this plays out, the structure of Safaricom will likely evolve in the years ahead.

How are small businesses using M-Pesa day to day?

From informal kiosks to mid‑sized retailers, M-Pesa is the cash register, the ledger, and the settlement rail. It simplifies payouts to suppliers, reconciles daily sales, and cuts the need to handle cash. That is especially powerful outside major cities, where card rails are less common and mobile money is the default.

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What comes next for Safaricom and M-Pesa?

Safaricom’s 25th anniversary arrives with a bold plan for Vision 2030 and a wider footprint beyond Kenya. Ethiopia is a big part of that story, with the telco already live and M-Pesa licenses underway there. The next phase is about balancing growth with resilience. That means heftier investment in platform reliability, stronger cyber defenses, and careful engagement with regulators as Kenya hardens its national payments system rules.

There is also a regional angle. Cross‑border payments in East Africa remain clunky and expensive. If M-Pesa can smooth those edges, it will unlock new trade for small businesses and deepen its moat. The flip side is threat actors getting smarter, which we covered in our look at AI‑powered cybercrime hitting mobile money. The finish line keeps moving, but so does the opportunity.

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