Safaricom Deploys Red Hat OpenShift for Cloud Transformation

Red Hat, Inc. has announced that Safaricom, a provider of converged communication solutions in Kenya, has deployed Red Hat OpenShift as a common cloud platform for applications, including the M-PESA system.

Safaricom boasts more than 45 million subscribers and Kenya’s widest modern mobile network coverage. The company operates critical applications with high uptime and stability requirements, including third-party applications connected to the renowned M-PESA core platform.

M-PESA, a mobile payment system, supports 51 million customers making over $314 billion in transactions per year across Africa, promoting financial inclusion by enabling unbanked and underbanked individuals to transfer money, pay bills, and trade.

Fran Heeran, Vice President, Global Telecommunications, Red Hat, said, “Safaricom has high requirements around agility, stability, and scale-out design to support its business-critical applications where performance directly impacts customers, including millions of users reliant on M-PESA banking services. We are pleased to collaborate closely with Safaricom as one team on its modernization project with Red Hat OpenShift as its common platform for developing and deploying applications at scale.”

Building on its use of Red Hat Enterprise Linux for a stable, reliable, and flexible Linux platform and Red Hat Satellite for infrastructure management, Safaricom sought an open-source solution for containerization.

In 2024, Safaricom expanded to Red Hat OpenShift Platform Plus to harness Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security for enhanced cybersecurity capabilities, Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes for holistic workload orchestration, and Red Hat Quay, a security-focused and scalable private registry platform for managing content across globally distributed datacenters and cloud environments.

“We are glad to have Red Hat as a strategic partner to Safaricom, helping our teams succeed with technology modernization that supports our people-centric company mission. Customer experience is paramount for us, and with Red Hat’s platforms and support teams, we have been able to gain performance improvements across our entire IT infrastructure. This has given our teams the confidence to deploy cloud-native applications, which is a significant step for us as we transition our infrastructure into a platform for business innovation—both for IT and network capabilities.” Duncan Kabira Ndirangu, Head of IT Infrastructure, Safaricom.

Looking ahead, Safaricom is assessing the opportunity to expand these benefits into the network space, such as its 5G core, by expanding its Red Hat OpenShift footprint. The team is working on a proof-of-concept to kick off and define the process before scaling up to onboard the full team and applications.

James Maitai, Chief Technology Information Officer, Safaricom, added, “Red Hat has been a pivotal partner in Safaricom’s journey from a traditional telecommunications company to a technology-driven organization. Through its innovative solutions and open source expertise, Red Hat has enabled us to enhance our internal efficiencies, streamline operations, and accelerate our digital transformation.

This collaboration aligns with Safaricom’s mission of transforming lives by empowering our teams with cutting-edge tools and platforms that drive innovation and deliver exceptional value to our customers. As we continue to evolve into a tech company, we look forward to deepening our relationship with Red Hat, fostering greater collaboration, and exploring new opportunities to create impactful solutions that will further our vision of connecting and enriching the lives of millions across Africa.”