Nairobi — Safaricom M-PESA customers will from February 8 be charged 10 percent extra for money transfers above Sh101.

The telco says the upward review follows amendments to the Customs and Excise Duty Act gazetted on February 1 last year.

The amendments contained in the Finance Act of 2012, introduce a 10 percent excise duty tax on transaction fees for all money transfer services provided by cellular phone providers, banks, money transfer agencies and other financial service providers.

The Act contains a raft of tax measures by the Treasury aimed at raising revenues for the government to fund growing financial obligations.

"Our M-PESA tariff structure is guided by our understanding that we need to sustain the robustness and availability of this money transfer services across the country. It also ensures that we continuously invest in our platform and extensive distribution network," Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore said in a statement.

However the announcement is against the expectation of many Kenyans who are under the service, after Finance Minister Njeru Githae earlier assured that the 10 percent excise duty should be borne by service providers and not customers.