Kenya’s telecom giant Safaricom has moved to streamline its digital ecosystem by merging its M PESA and mySafaricom applications into a single platform, a decision widely seen as part of a broader strategy to eliminate duplication and enhance service delivery. The integration brings together over 6.5 million M PESA users and fewer than 3 million mySafaricom users, signalling a shift toward a more unified and efficient digital experience, even as the company declined to comment on the shutdown timeline.
Industry observers note that the consolidation simplifies Safaricom’s backend systems, particularly its API structure, while creating room for more advanced automation powered by artificial intelligence. The move also comes amid rising competition from financial institutions such as Equity Group Holdings and KCB Group, which have continued to upgrade their mobile platforms to rival the ease and convenience traditionally associated with M PESA services.
Sources within the company described the previous dual app structure as a legacy of its evolution from a telecommunications provider into a financial services powerhouse. Maintaining separate systems created operational inefficiencies, including duplicated engineering efforts, parallel security frameworks, and fragmented user experiences, challenges that ultimately made consolidation inevitable.
At the centre of the transition is a new cloud native platform known as My OneApp, built to process up to 6,000 transactions per second and host more than 80 third party services. The platform leverages machine learning to anticipate user behaviour, offering timely prompts for recurring payments and embedding financial tools such as savings and investment products directly within the interface.
With features like biometric authentication and integrated services, Safaricom is betting that a single, intelligent platform will deepen user engagement, raise revenue per user, and strengthen its position in an increasingly competitive digital finance landscape.