Have you ever known there’s a hidden nifty feature that allows Safaricom customers with an MPESA account to send money to any phone number even on a different network? The service which tries to enable mobile money interoperability in the country aiming to allow MPESA users to send money to anyone even those on a different network. MPESA currently has a massive customer base and unfortunately other mobile service providers such as Telkom and Airtel haven’t managed to crack in its popularity.
While Safaricom’s MPESA service remains widely adopted and the best in its category, unfortunately other services haven’t been so popular from the mobile service provider. This has either forced subscribers to have more than one sim cards from different network providers so they could enjoy popular services from let’s say MPESA, Airtel’s international calling rates and Telkom’s data bundles.
Unfortunately, this has forced some of us to have more than a single handset or those with double sim card support. These workarounds work in most times but they are not the best cost-effective measures you should be thinking about. Turns out, if you don’t have a Safaricom number, you can still receive MPESA transactions with a little tweak on it.
How to send money from MPESA to a number on a different network
First, the sender has to use the USSD code method instead of the MPESA menu, it’s a little tedious but proven to work just fine.
- On your Safaricom phone, Dial *234#
- Select Option “1” dubbed “M-pesa Products”.
- Choose option “98” for more items
- Then select option number “8” titled “M-pesa Tuma Popote”.
- Enter the recipients mobile phone number
- Confirm recipient’s name
- Enter MPESA PIN to confirm the transaction.
How to withdraw money send from MPESA on a different network
If you’ve received an MPESA transaction but you’re not a registered MPESA user, you can withdraw the amount by following below simple steps within 7 days. However, if you’ve received the amount through mobile money interoperability feature, the amount reflects directly in your respective mobile money account such as T-Kash or Airtel Money and you can withdraw from your respective agent.
- Just present the transaction message to any MPESA agent with your identification document like the National ID or passport
- Once the agent authenticates the transaction, you should be issued with the amount.