Safaricom has opened nine new mobile number prefixes for customers seeking new lines. The company announced the change on August 10, adding 0118, 0119, 0140, 0141, 0142, 0143, 0180, 0181 and 0182 to its numbering system.
The expansion responds to a 07xx range that has served Safaricom customers since the company launched in Kenya but is now running out of numbers. Mobile and data use kept climbing, and that range started running low on space.
Existing customers keep their current numbers. Nothing changes for them. The new prefixes apply only to people getting a new Safaricom line, whether they are first time subscribers or customers picking up an additional number.
“Fresh number, fresh start! Safaricom’s new number ranges are here, giving you more ways to stay connected to the people and moments that matter,” the company said in its notice, pointing customers to any Safaricom Shop or dealer outlet to pick a number from the new ranges.
Fresh number, fresh start!
Safaricom’s new number ranges are here, giving you more ways to stay connected to the people and moments that matter.
Get yours from any Safaricom Shop or Dealer outlet with prefixes 0118, 0119, 0140–0143, or 0180–0182=
PIN YAKO SIRI YAKO!… pic.twitter.com/Q8QQYJye9J
— Safaricom PLC (@SafaricomPLC) August 10, 2026
Where to get one
Customers can walk into any Safaricom Shop or authorized dealer and select a number from the new ranges on the spot. Stock varies by outlet, so a prefix might sell out faster at some locations than others.
Safaricom used the announcement to repeat its reminder: keep your PIN private. Do not share it with anyone, including people claiming to work for Safaricom.
From 0722 to 018x: how the numbering system grew
Safaricom’s numbering history stretches back to the early 2000s, when the company switched on commercial mobile service in Kenya. 0722 came first, followed by 0721 and 0720 as subscriber numbers grew.
Demand kept building. Safaricom added the 070x, 071x, 072x, 074x, 075x, 076x and 079x ranges over the years, giving itself room to keep issuing new lines.
By the time those blocks filled up, Kenya introduced the 01xx range to work alongside 07xx. Safaricom picked up 0110 and 0111 first, launching them for SIM cards in 2020, then followed with 0112, 0113, 0114 and 0115 as growth continued and space in the older 07xx blocks tightened. The prefixes announced this month, 0118, 0119, 0140 through 0143, and 0180 through 0182, are the newest additions to that 01xx family.
A milestone year for the network behind the numbers
The new prefixes land during Safaricom’s anniversary year. The company turned 25 on October 23, 2025, marking the milestone with a Safaricom@25 campaign built around one line: Safaricom offers value, cares, and delights and transforms communities.
Safaricom’s own numbers tell the scale of what those new prefixes are feeding into. The company had 17,000 customers when it launched in Kenya. It now serves more than 50 million people, with its FY26 annual report recording 71.56 million total 90 day active customers across the Safaricom PLC Group, up from 57.08 million the year before.
In the chairman’s statement in that report, Adil Arshed Khawaja pointed to the same growth story behind the new number ranges:
Safaricom’s customer base “grew to more than 72 million customers across Kenya and Ethiopia.” He added that the company’s results “represent the trust that we have earned, the resilience demonstrated, and the lives that we have transformed.”
That trust shows up in how people use the network day to day. M-PESA alone now serves more than 41 million customers, and the platform processed KShs 41.68 trillion in transactions during the last financial year, a figure that dwarfs the size of Kenya’s economy several times over.
