Safaricom has announced a brief, scheduled system upgrade for its widely used Fuliza overdraft service, as new figures reveal the platform’s staggering growth.
The maintenance is set for the early hours of Monday, 17th November 2025, lasting one hour between 01:00 Hrs and 02:00 Hrs.
In its announcement, the company stated the upgrade is necessary “to support this and meet our promise to offer always on, safe, secure, and worry-free financial products and services.”
During the one-hour maintenance window, Safaricom advised that Fuliza services may be intermittent. However, all other M-PESA services, such as sending money and paying bills, will remain available as usual.
The company noted that the timing was “planned to result in minimal inconvenience” for its millions of customers, many of whom rely on the service 24/7.
The maintenance announcement comes just days after Safaricom’s latest half-year financial results highlighted Fuliza’s critical and growing role. The platform, a partnership with NCBA and KCB Bank, allows M-PESA users to complete transactions, such as paying for goods or sending money, even with insufficient funds in their accounts.
According to the company’s results for the six months ending in September 2025, Kenyans tapped a staggering KSh 629.2 billion in Fuliza overdrafts. This was part of KSh 777.5 billion in digital credit accessed by 9.5 million customers, underscoring the service’s deep integration into the daily financial lives of millions.
This massive disbursement volume is part of a significant rebound for the service. Recent reports indicate that Fuliza’s revenue surged by nearly 35% in the past year, reversing a two-year period of decline that followed regulatory and pricing scrutiny.
This growth is powered by the sheer scale of the M-PESA ecosystem, which now boasts 37.9 million monthly active customers who conducted transactions valued at an unprecedented KSh 20.2 trillion in the last six months.
Launched in 2019, Fuliza quickly evolved from a simple convenience into an essential financial tool, giving rise to what many economists term the “Fuliza economy.”
For a large segment of the population, the service acts as a crucial short-term safety net, used to cover immediate needs such as food, bus fare, and utility bills in between paychecks. Its popularity stems from its instant accessibility, with no paperwork required.
The platform’s recent resurgence is also widely attributed to the major pricing reforms Safaricom and its banking partners introduced in October 2022. In a move to make the service more affordable and align it with its purpose as a short-term facility, the company introduced a free daily maintenance fee for the first three days on overdrafts of KSh 1,000 and below.
This restructure, which benefited over 80% of Fuliza users, appears to have successfully boosted affordability and, in turn, customer usage and reliance on the platform.
Given the billions in daily transactions and its role as a vital financial lifeline, the need for robust system maintenance is paramount. Safaricom says the upcoming upgrade is seen as a routine but necessary step to ensure the platform remains stable, secure, and capable of handling its ever-increasing transaction volume.
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