Safaricom will be exploring the use of finger and facial recognition in a bid to curb SIM fraud. Mobile money transactions will be suspended for a period of time following a SIM Swap, to prevent fraudsters from accessing customer funds held in M-PESA accounts.
The firm already uses voice biometrics.
“SIM fraud has been a huge pain point for our customers and we have taken these concerns very seriously. Our customers remain at the centre of everything that we do and in the next couple of months, we will put in place measures that will help us address this issue as we also work closely with DCI and the police,” said Bob Collymore, CEO, Safaricom.
Safaricom has also today announced improvement of data experience for customers and will in the next few months announce new data packages in line with their needs.
To address the data issue, Safaricom will unveil ways of enabling customers to manage their data usage by choosing their preferred internet speeds while browsing.
“We have received numerous complaints from our customers that their data is being depleted too fast giving them a bad experience. My commitment to our customers going forward is that we will deliver a more transparent and user friendly data experience,” said Mr. Collymore.
With over 4,600 network sites across the country and 86% of the Kenyan population covered with 3G network, Safaricom continues to improve mobile penetration which currently stands at 88.7%.
In the Year Ended 31st March 2018, there was a 29% drop in effective price of data coupled with scaled up access with a Fibre Optic Footprint of 4,700 km countrywide accessing more than 141,000 households.
The measures will also include notifying customers of any abnormal spikes in data usage, which often occur during auto updates of apps and software, streaming and archiving of multimedia content. In cases where this fails and a customer’s data is depleted unexpectedly, Safaricom will reimburse customer’s data bundle.
The announcements were made during the 10th Annual General Meeting held today at Bomas of Kenya. Shareholders voted to approve the Directors’ Remuneration Policy contained in the Directors’ Remuneration Report for the year ended 31st March 2018.