New Safaricom numbers starting 0118, 0119, 0140 and 0180 are real Safaricom lines. What the new prefixes mean.

Safaricom has released nine new phone number prefixes: 0118, 0119, 0140, 0141, 0142, 0143, 0180, 0181 and 0182. The company announced the ranges through its “Popote Ulipo” campaign channels, and says the new numbers are available now at Safaricom Shops and dealer outlets countrywide.

If you see a call or an M-PESA payment from a number starting with any of these prefixes, it is a normal Safaricom line. Do not treat it as international or suspicious on the prefix alone. Kenya went through the same adjustment period in 2019 and 2020, when many people ignored calls from the then-new 0110 and 0111 numbers because they did not look like the familiar 07xx format.

Why Safaricom keeps adding prefixes

Each four-digit prefix carries 1 million possible numbers, because a Kenyan mobile number has ten digits and the remaining six can run from 000000 to 999999. Nine new prefixes therefore give Safaricom room for up to 9 million additional lines.

The company needs the room. The Communications Authority of Kenya’s sector statistics for January to March 2026 put Safaricom at 57.9 million active mobile subscriptions, after it added roughly 5.5 million in that single quarter. Kenya as a whole had 84.1 million active SIMs against a population of about 55 million, a penetration rate of 157.7%. Many Kenyans hold more than one line, and Safaricom itself lets one national ID register up to five SIM cards. We covered the multi-SIM habit in detail when SIM penetration crossed 149% in late 2025.

Where these prefixes fit in the history

Safaricom’s first prefix was 0722, launched in 2001. The 07xx pool it drew from ran out around 2019, which is when the Communications Authority opened the 01xx series. We wrote about that original CA announcement in April 2019.

The allocations since then have come in batches. Airtel took 0100, 0101 and 0102 first. Safaricom followed with 0110 and 0111 in February 2020, then added 0112 through 0115 in November 2020, around its 20th anniversary. At that point Safaricom had about 35 million customers. It now has 57.9 million, so the six 011x prefixes it held, worth 6 million numbers between them, were never going to last.

Two things stand out in this new batch. First, 0118 and 0119 complete Safaricom’s run of the 011x block, apart from 0116 and 0117. We found no public record of Safaricom, or any other operator, launching 0116 or 0117, and Safaricom’s announcement does not mention them.

Second, 0140 to 0143 and 0180 to 0182 are the first Kenyan mobile numbers to start with 014 or 018. Until now, every 01xx mobile number in the country began with 010 or 011. The pattern mirrors what happened inside 07xx, where Safaricom held ranges like 0740 to 0743 alongside its 0110-style blocks. Expect some confusion at first, especially with paybill and till payments where a cashier sees an unfamiliar number format.

Getting one

The SIM cards are available at Safaricom Shops and dealer outlets. The same costs for SIM Cards apply.

The practical takeaway: numbers starting 0118, 0119, 0140 to 0143 and 0180 to 0182 are Safaricom lines from today. Save them, call them back, and pay them like any other. The thing to watch is whether the Communications Authority publishes an updated numbering assignment showing the 0116 and 0117 gap, and which operator picks up the rest of the 014x and 018x blocks next.