Safaricom and Pesapal let M-Pesa users tap or scan to pay at card terminals

Safaricom, Kenya's largest telecoms operator, has teamed up with Kenyan payments company Pesapal to let M-Pesa customers pay at shop checkouts by tapping their phone on a card terminal or scanning a QR code shown on its screen. The partnership was announced on 1 October 2026, according to TechTrendsKE.

Safaricom's existing Scan-to-Pay lets customers scan a static QR code linked to a merchant's Till Number, TechTrendsKE says. TechCabal reports that the new tap feature lets customers pay by tapping their phone rather than manually entering the merchant's Till Number, a code used to receive M-Pesa payments.

What changes at the till

There are two methods. With tap-to-pay, a customer with an NFC-enabled phone (NFC, or near-field communication, is the short-range radio technology used in contactless cards) taps it on a Pesapal terminal. With dynamic scan-to-pay, the terminal shows a QR code that already contains the merchant's details and the amount, which TechTrendsKE says reduces errors from manual entry. Tech-ish reports that customers still enter their PIN, and that tap-to-pay needs Safaricom's My OneApp.

TechCabal reports that the rollout starts with 30,000 Pesapal terminals in Kenya, mostly in restaurants, hotels and selected supermarkets, and that customers pay no extra charge, just as when paying through a Till Number. ITWeb also refers to 30,000 existing Pesapal checkout terminals.

Safaricom and Pesapal also announced AI Pay, according to Developing Telecoms. It lets a customer scan a printed or handwritten receipt so that Till or PayBill details and the amount are filled in automatically. TechArena says AI Pay is a feature of My OneApp.

The company's targets

TechTrendsKE, TechArena and ITWeb report that scan-to-pay is already available at more than 60,000 merchant outlets, and that Safaricom is aiming for 500,000 outlets within 12 months. These are company figures and targets, not independently verified. They are separate from the 30,000 Pesapal terminals, which are the devices on which the new features start. TechArena adds that the scan-to-pay service uses the Kenya Quick Response (KE-QR) standard defined by the Central Bank of Kenya.

James Maitai, Safaricom's Group Chief Technology Officer, said: "As the way Kenyans shop and transact continues to evolve, we are focused on ensuring that M-Pesa evolves with them." Pesapal founder Agosta Liko said, according to TechTrendsKE and Developing Telecoms, that bringing tap-to-pay and scan-to-pay to Pesapal terminals is the biggest leap in Kenya's checkout experience in years.

TechArena, which calls Liko Pesapal's CEO, also quotes him on wider ambitions: "…tap your device on the pump, enter the amount you want to pay, and then you fuel yourself." This points to petrol stations as a possible future use.

What is not yet clear

Tech-ish notes that the companies did not say whether merchants face additional fees, exactly which outlets have the features switched on, or where AI Pay is available. The same outlet says merchants with Pesapal's N950s terminal, or select N950u models, can use the features without extra equipment, and that standard M-Pesa limits apply: KSh 250,000 per transaction and KSh 500,000 a day.

The reports also differ slightly on dates: TechTrendsKE and TechArena put the announcement on 1 October, and TechCabal and Tech-ish carry 1 October in their web addresses, while Developing Telecoms is dated 2 October. This report uses 1 October.

Why it matters

For shoppers, the practical gain is fewer manual-entry errors, according to TechTrendsKE; for merchants, the open question is cost, as the companies have not said whether merchants pay extra.

What to watch next: whether Safaricom publishes the list of activated outlets, whether merchant fees are disclosed, and whether the 500,000-outlet target is met within 12 months of the announcement.