Safaricom rolls out faster payments solution

M-PESA 1Tap will be available to all Lipa Na M-PESA merchants and customers and aims at making it faster to make and receive cashless payments. The service also increases the accuracy and privacy of Lipa Na M-PESA by ensuring that payments are delivered to a matching merchant.

The solution will be progressively rolled out to supermarkets, petrol stations, and restaurants. Some of the merchants where customers can now make payments with M-PESA 1Tap include Shell, Naivas, Choppies, KenolKobil, KFC, Oil Libya, Total and QuickMart.

Customers will initially have the option of obtaining an M-PESA 1Tap wristband, phone sticker or card which will allow payment integrations with M-PESA 1Tap merchant terminals. To make a payment, a merchant will key in the payment amount into their device, tap the customer tag, and the customer will then key in their PIN on their phone to validate the payment.

M-PESA 1Tap was launched in May 2017 in Nakuru County, with more than 90,000 customers and 2,000 merchants taking up the service.