How to Buy Airtel Airtime from MPESA

Safaricom PLC is the largest telecommunication company in Kenya. Airtel comes in second. Although the two are competitors, it is still possible for you to buy Airtel airtime using MPESA. There are two ways that you can buy Airtel credit from MPESA.

In this guide, we take a look at how to buy Airtel airtime from MPESA via Pesapal and Chura.

How to Buy Airtel Airtime via Pesapal

Pesapal One of the most popular ways that you can top up Airtel credit via MPESA is through Pesapal. Pesapal is an online payments platform that provides a simple, and secure way for both businesses and individuals to accept and make payments. In addition, the online platform can also be used to purchase airtime.

Below are the steps that you will follow if you want to buy Airtel airtime via Pesapal:

Go to the Safaricom menu on your phone and click on MPESA
Select the “Lipa Na MPESA” option
Tap on the “Pay Bill” option
In the “Business Number” field, key in 220220 which is the Pesapal business number
Next, enter your Airtel number as the “Account Number”
Key in the amount of airtime you need to top up to your line
Key in your four-digit MPESA pin
Your phone’s screen will show a pop-up message for you to confirm the Paybill number, account number, and amount
Next, tap on “Pay”

Once you accept the transaction, you will get another pop-up message for you to confirm the details. The message will show that you are making the payment to Pesapal. Tap on “Cancel” if the details keyed in are correct. However, if they are incorrect, key in any number or letter and tap “Send” within 25 seconds to cancel the transaction.

If the transaction is successful, you will get a confirmation message from both MPESA and CHAPCHAP. The CHAPCHAP message will let you know that you have successfully topped up airtime for your Airtel line. You can then proceed to dial *131# to confirm your Airtel airtime balance.

How to Buy Airtel Airtime Through Chura

Chura Airtime Another way that you can buy Airtel airtime via MPESA is through Chura. Chura is an online payments platform that allows users to buy airtime via MPESA to any network as well as move money with ease from MPESA to PayPal and vice versa. Moreover, users are also able to top-up credit to a large group of people.

To top-up Airtel airtime via Chura, follow these instructions:

Go to the Chura website and click on “Airtime Services”
Click on “Go to Service”
Fill in the form with the amount of airtime you want to purchase
Key in your Safaricom number in the “Phone number to pay” field
In the field written “Phone number to be topped up”, enter your Airtel number
Next, choose Airtel as the recipient network and tap on “Continue”
If the transaction details are okay, click “Yes, proceed”
Your screen will display a pop-up message for you to key in your MPESA PIN

Once your transaction goes through and is successful, you will receive a confirmation message from both MPESA and Chura. On your laptop or PC screen, click on “Continue”. You will see a message showing that your transaction was successfully processed. You can then dial *131# to confirm that your Airtel balance was topped up successfully.