Airtel on Monday launched a product to rival Safaricom’s Pochi la Biashara, triggering a price war that has cut the cost of customer transfers to micro-businesses’ wallets to zero.
Airtel Money’s Bizna Wallet takes aim at Safaricom’s M-Pesa Pochi la Biashara, a low-cost product that provides small-scale traders with a simplified digital payment solution.
Customers paying for goods via Airtel’s wallet will not be charged a fee as the telco seeks to increase the number of merchants on its platform and cut Safaricom’s share.
Safaricom, in response to Airtel’s launch, on Saturday lowered its tariffs for payments to business tills and paybills as well as Pochi la Biashara, where transactions of less than Sh200 are now free from Sh100.
Safaricom’s move has triggered rumours that the telecoms operator was aware of Airtel’s moves and lowered prices to protect and grow the market share of its money maker.
M-Pesa now generates the bulk of Safaricom’s revenues, and Airtel, which has struggled against its top rival, is looking at mobile money and fixed data to push it into the profits zone.
“We expect this to be a very instrumental tool for our merchants. Of course, with the free payment to the business wallet, this will be a key driver of customers paying into this business wallet,” said Airtel Money Kenya Acting Managing Director Michael Bonke.
“Free payments to businesses have been one of our customers’ requests. We listen to the market, and if there is any other product needed, we will do it.”
Airtel Money has also halved the costs of its other mobile money transactions, such as paybill payments, sending money to rival mobile money networks, bank transfers to wallet, and transfers of money to bank accounts.
This will happen through a 50 percent cash-back plan rather than an outright plan.
On Saturday, Safaricom also halved charges on payments to business tills and paybills, which is emerging as a sales and profit driver.
Its revenues from M-Pesa Pochi, which was launched in 2020, stood at Sh4 billion in the year to March, while paybill and tills generated sales of Sh9.3 billion, pushing its merchant earnings to Sh13.3 billion.
At 13.3 billion, the sales would match the annual revenues of tens of companies listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).
“To make digital payments more affordable and support the growth of businesses across Kenya, Safaricom is introducing revised tariffs for Pochi la Biashara and Lipa na M-Pesa Buy-Goods,” Safaricom said in a statement on Saturday.
New tariffs effective from August 7 will halve charges for M-Pesa tills and paybill payments, lowering the maximum tariff to Sh54 from Sh108 for transfers of between Sh45,001 and Sh250,000.
Pochi la Biashara charges have been revised for a three-month period to October 31, with the top rate at Sh50 for transfers between Sh2,501 and Sh250,000.
The number of merchants using Pochi la Biashara reached 2.1 million in the financial year ended March 2026, nearly doubling from 1.1 million a year earlier.
Safaricom launched Pochi as part of its strategy to drive the adoption of digital financial services among micro-entrepreneurs, allowing them to keep business earnings separate from personal funds in a wallet linked to their M-Pesa account.
The product was designed to address key pain points for merchants, including the mixing of personal and business funds and frustrations around customer payment reversals.
Data from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) shows a gradual erosion of Safaricom’s dominance in mobile money and fixed internet as rivals ramp up competition.
Airtel’s share of mobile money subscriptions rose to 10.9 percent in March 2026 from 9.1 percent a year earlier.
Safaricom’s dominance in mobile-money services has been diluted from a high of 98 percent.
Airtel Money credits the rise of its mobile money services, which have reached a double-digit market share, to improving customer experiences while also leveraging partnerships with businesses like KCB and Naivas to grow its agency network.
“In a nutshell, I’d say what has got us here is listening to our customers and giving them the best experiences,” added Mr Bonke.
“The current number of merchants that an Airtel Money customer can pay into is about two million. This has been brought about by partnerships that we’ve had with the various banks and other industry players. In terms of distribution, partnerships have given us a foothold in the market and have been key to our growth.”
M-Pesa has emerged as a top revenue earner for Safaricom, alongside data, voice and messaging declines.
Safaricom’s M-Pesa revenues in Kenya rose by 13.4 percent to Sh182.7 billion, anchoring the strong performance in the domestic market.
