Safaricom through its services, has taken the following measures to support covid-19 pandemic;
M-PESA
- Following the request by the government to explore ways of deepening mobile money usage to reduce the risk of spreading the virus through the physical handling of cash. We have zero rated all person-to-person transactions below Ksh1,000. M-PESA users are now able to send any amount below Ksh1,000 for free over the next 90 (ninety) days.
- This represents 75% of all M-PESA transactions.
- To support the small and micro business enterprises (SMEs), CBK approved the increase of daily M-PESA transaction limits from the current Ksh70,000 to Ksh150,000.
- Kenyans are now able to transact up to Ksh300,000 up from the current limit of Ksh140,000, and hold up to Ksh300,000 in their M-PESA wallets.
- We have also zero rated all charges for payments made to all hospitals and dispensaries across the country for a period of ninety days.
Home Fibre
To support the working from home request by the President, we have doubled the bandwidth offered to our Home Fibre customers at no extra costs to customers for a period of ninety days.
Call Centre Support – 719
- Safaricom is also working with the Government by providing a Call Centre and integrating a toll-free line 719 which has been set up by the National Emergency Response Committee on Coronavirus to support Kenyans in understanding how to prevent and manage suspected cases.
- We have also interconnected other networks to ensure that their subscribers can access the Call Centre.
- All calls to 719 are free. Over 300 customer care executives trained and handling line 719.
Line 719 output
IVR average hits – average of 70,000 daily calls
IVR Self-service usage – 67,000 daily users
USSD usage – average of 900,000 daily users. Thursday 19th peaked at 2.1 Million users
Safaricom Foundation – Purchase and donation of four thermal cameras for Ministry of Health that will help with screening at various border entry points.