Safaricom has announced plans to introduce mobile phone numbers for juniors, allowing them to save money on M-Pesa, text, and make calls.
“Going forward the junior will be able to have their own number but under the parent account and that convert to the junior automatically when they turn 18 rather than having that problematic element that used to happen before,” Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Peter Ndegwa, said during the release of the firm’s half-year result ending September 30, 2022, in Nairobi.
To protect children, Ndegwa said that features such as betting, among others, will be disabled. Parents will also be able to monitor what their kids are doing as the numbers will be registered under parents’ details.
“The parent should be able to monitor what the child is able to do,” he said.
“We have simplified the menu that the junior account will have so that they are not able to access certain services like betting,” added the CEO.
He added that the firm has received support from the regulator, the Communication Authority of Kenya (CAK), to offer the service.
“So that has received very strong support from the regulator because it is about parental control of what juniors do rather than using an adult account,” Safaricom Boss noted.
