Indosat, Safaricom partner to turn AI ambitions into real-world customer impact

At a time when telcos are racing to define their role in an AI-led future, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison has partnered with Safaricom to move beyond ambition and into execution.

Announced in Barcelona, the collaboration brings together Indosat’s push to become an AI-native telco with Safaricom’s track record in building one of the world’s most mature mobile financial ecosystems through M-PESA. The focus is clear: practical applications that can quickly improve customer experience, strengthen trust, and optimise network investments.

At the customer level, both companies will explore advanced AI-driven decisioning to enable more proactive and hyper-personalised engagement. This includes predictive care capabilities that can anticipate and resolve network issues before users are affected, as well as more relevant product recommendations for prepaid customers. Conversational AI is also expected to play a larger role in reshaping customer support, making it faster and more intuitive.

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The partnership extends into financial services, where Indosat aims to leverage Safaricom’s operational expertise. Key areas of focus include AI-powered fraud and risk management, improving payment reliability during peak periods, and expanding merchant ecosystem capabilities. The companies also plan to develop more tailored financial offerings based on behavioural insights, reflecting the growing expectation for personalised digital financial journeys.

Beyond front-end innovation, the alliance signals a shift in how telcos approach infrastructure investment. By exploring CNX-based Smart CAPEX and AI-led insights, Indosat aims to make its network planning more precise and demand-driven – particularly in high-growth and underserved areas where improved connectivity can unlock economic value.

Talent development is another cornerstone of the collaboration. Both organisations will work to build AI-fluent leadership, introduce Business-AI Translator roles, and facilitate cross-organisational learning through short-term secondments and shared capability-building programmes.

“By combining Indosat’s AI-Native ambitions with Safaricom’s proven fintech and ecosystem expertise, we are focused on delivering innovations that customers can genuinely feel from smarter networks and safer digital transactions to more personal and intuitive experiences. Ultimately, this is part of our larger purpose to empower Indonesia’s digital future and ensure no one is left behind,” said Vikram Sinha, president director and CEO of Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison.

“Our partnership with Indosat is built on our respective strengths, their bold AI-native transformation and our deep experience in building Africa’s most trusted digital and financial ecosystem. We come together with Indosat, firmly guided by our purpose of transforming lives, creating technology that genuinely improves how people live, work, and connect. From smarter networks and safer transactions to more intuitive digital experiences, this collaboration goes beyond innovation; it is about shaping inclusive digital economies where individuals, businesses, and communities can thrive,” added Peter Ndegwa, CEO of Safaricom.

As digital adoption accelerates across emerging markets, both companies are aligned on a central thesis: the next phase of growth will not be defined by connectivity alone, but by how intelligently networks, platforms, and financial services converge to serve customers in more meaningful ways.

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