by Mary yulla

WhatsApp to charge Kenyan businesses for customer-service messagesWhatsApp Business users in Kenya will start paying for some messages from October 1, 2026, after new charges for business communication announced by Meta.This means businesses in the East African nation will pay roughly KSh0.52 for each delivered service message they send, responding to a customer.The fees apply to WhatsApp service messages within an open 24-hour customer-service window, and it includes utility messages – such as sending customers payment confirmations or updates to the status of an order.Businesses that use the WhatsApp Business Platform for professional communication or have integrated it with their customer-service software would have to start paying charges for this service.

The announcement does not indicate that regular WhatsApp users will incur any charges for sending messages.Neither does it suggest that every business using the standard WhatsApp Business mobile application will have to pay the new fee. Only businesses that are using WhatsApp’s Business Platform will be charged.Meta already charges businesses for marketing messages sent through the WhatsApp Business Platform, with promotional content currently costing businesses KSh3 per delivered message in Kenya, according to reports on the company’s pricing.For those businesses communicating frequently with customers, the charge for service messages could add significantly to their communication costs.At the reported KSh0.52 per message, 10,000 chargeable WhatsApp messages would cost KSh5,200 not including any other charges by their service providers or communication software.

WhatsApp Business has become a key communication channel for businesses, with companies using it to reply to their customers, provide information about products, confirm transactions and handle sales inquiries.The new charges will mean those businesses incurring extra charges when using WhatsApp for high-volume customer communication.Businesses affected by these changes will be required to have a payment method on file by September 30 to continue receiving the affected service messages once the charges take effect.Meta has said it will stop delivering the messages to businesses without a payment method when the new charges come into force.

The new pricing represents another move in Meta’s strategy to monetise the use of WhatsApp by businesses, with companies now being charged for some customer-service messages that previously did not involve a fee.