Safaricom is a behemoth of Kenyan finance and connectivity, a company so successful that its operations often feel like a utility, and the recent 2025 Annual Report confirms its continued, phenomenal revenue growth. Yet, buried within the report is a stark reminder of a financial practice that is not just petty, but arguably exploitative: the mandatory 10% access fee charged on emergency services like Okoa Jahazi (airtime) and Okoa Data (data bundles).
The company’s financial statements confirm that the access fees from these “emergency top-up services” are grouped into the “Other service revenue” category , which, for the Group, stood at a significant KES 12.31 billion in FY2025. This shows the sheer scale of the revenue stream Safaricom extracts from its customers’ most vulnerable moments. The problem is simple: this fee is an outrageous tax on customer loyalty that deserves to be scrapped immediately.
Let me bring it up again, ICYMI. According to the company’s financial statements for the year ended March 2025, “Other service revenue includes access fees charged on emergency top up service when a customer borrows airtime (Okoa Jahazi) and data bundles (Okoa Data) with the debt being repayable within five days.” This segment brought in KES 12.31 billion, up from KES 11.55 billion in March 2024, cementing Okoa Jahazi and Okoa Data as silent profit engines for the telco.
But let’s be clear: this “access fee” makes no moral or economic sense. At least not for me. See, if I borrow Okoa Jahazi airtime, I can only use it to make a call, send a text, or buy a bundle — all actions that directly generate revenue for Safaricom. I’m not taking their cash to buy groceries or pay rent. I’m staying within their ecosystem, using their core services, and even ensuring they remain my preferred network. Yet Safaricom still finds it necessary to charge a fee for the privilege of keeping them in business. Essentially, a customer borrowing airtime intends to make calls or send texts, which are services that generate core voice and messaging revenue for Safaricom (voice revenue for the Group was KES 81.96 billion in FY2025, up from KES 80.54 billion in 2024). The debt is guaranteed to generate revenue immediately.
The same logic applies to Okoa Data. If I borrow data, I’ll use it to browse on Safaricom’s network — again, keeping traffic, activity, and engagement flowing through their infrastructure. The company isn’t extending me “money” in any real sense; it’s simply letting me access the very products that make it money every day. So yeah, a customer borrowing data is, by definition, using Safaricom’s network to browse the internet, ensuring the core product (data bundles) is sold and consumed (mobile data revenue for the Group was KES 78.5 billion in FY2025, up from KES 67.4 billion in 2024).
The logic that governs M-Pesa loans does not apply
We understand the justification for charging a fee on M-Pesa lending products like Fuliza. When a customer takes an overdraft from their M-Pesa account, that money becomes a liquid, fungible asset. The customer can use that cash outside the Safaricom ecosystem to pay a vendor, withdraw at an agent, or purchase a product that has nothing to do with Safaricom’s core business. The loan service is providing external capital liquidity.
Okoa Jahazi and Okoa Data offer no such external value. You cannot “withdraw” airtime or data and use it to buy a cup of tea or pay a bill. You must burn it down to make calls and use data, a transactional cycle that ensures Safaricom earns a second layer of revenue on top of the initial 10% access fee.
The charge is absurd because it treats the airtime and data advance as an open-ended financial loan, when it is strictly a revenue-generation tool for the company. It’s a fee for the privilege of paying Safaricom more money.
Safaricom’s financials show that “Other services revenues include Okoa Jahazi fees, roaming, and bulk SMS revenues.” While roaming and bulk SMS make business sense as distinct service lines, the inclusion of Okoa Jahazi here feels like an unnecessary squeeze on the very customers who keep the network alive, especially those struggling at the end of the month and relying on Okoa as a short-term bridge.
By the numbers: Okoa Jahazi’s hidden billions
| Category | FY2024 | FY2025 | Change (YoY) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Other services revenue (includes Okoa Jahazi, Okoa Data, roaming & bulk SMS) | KES 11.55 billion | KES 12.31 billion | +6.5% |
| Safaricom Kenya service revenue (total) | KES 326.56 billion | KES 360.86 billion | +10.5% |
With Safaricom’s total service revenue crossing KES 371 billion (up from KES 335 billion the previous year), it’s hard to justify why a company of this scale still needs to tax its most loyal customers for borrowing the same airtime they’ll repay within days — airtime and data that, in essence, never leave Safaricom’s books.
It’s time to call this fee what it really is: a tax on loyalty and necessity.
Okoa Jahazi began as a lifeline and not a revenue stream. Safaricom has every right to run a profitable business, but charging struggling customers a 10% fee for using the same network that keeps the company alive is not innovation. It’s an imbalance of power disguised as policy.
If Safaricom truly believes in financial inclusion and customer empowerment — values it often touts — then removing the Okoa Jahazi and Okoa Data access fees should be an easy place to start.
