USSD app
You’ve heard of Africastalking, but did you know you can build a functional USSD app with simple if else programming knowledge?
It’s free-ish too…
First of all, big shout out to Devcenter.
I think they don’t get enough credit for their contributions to the
developer ecosystem in Nigeria. Asides the high-end freelance gigs I get
from them occasionally, I’m most thankful for the $100 AWS promo code
they shared last year on their slack channel, with it, I was able to explore AWS, and I’m now familiar with S3, EC2, SES, Cloudfront, and RDS, all of which is used by Selar.co today.
Seun(COO of Devcenter) invited me for a small sit down with the Africa’s Talking team yesterday, where we had a hands-on session with their api, and they showcased what developers can achieve with their API.
In layman terms, here’s what they can do for you
SMS: Send SMS globally and receive SMS from mobile numbers across Africa with sms short codes.
USSD: Setup your own USSD code(something like *384*1300#), and link it to your web application.
Voice:
You know that stuff that happens when you call MTN customer care and a
voice speaks, and you dial a number on your key pad, and stuff happens
bla bla bla? Yes, that’s what this is for. Plus, it’s very flexible.
Payments: Mobile money, card and bank payments (powered by Flutterwave)
Airtime: Airtime and data recharge APIs (powered by Flutterwave).
THE USSD
Of
all the awesome services they offer, I am totally in awe of USSD.
Mainly because USSD is the new FAD in Nigeria that has this “Too complicated to even try”
vibe , plus I remember my first dig at USSD sometime this year, and it
was a mess. Having the Africa’s Talking team make this available to the
general public in such a seamless way is great, and I think the timing
is right too! Now, developers can be creative with it, and do amazing things.
Here’s how to setup your USSD application in 4 steps(maybe not four)
Step 1: Create an account on Africastalking.com
Step 2: Click the “Go to Sandbox App” button on your dashboard
Step 3: Click the USSD menu item to see the dropdown, and select the “Create Channel” option.
The USSD code format for their Nigerian USSD is
*384*YOUR CHANNEL NO#
So your USSD code would look like this *384*1300#
The callback URL
is the server side endpoint that the USSD application would call every
time a user dials your USSD code(That’s where you’ll have your If else
code).
Step 4: create your USSD channel, and use it.
They
already provide a sample, so here’s a simple PHP code snippet of how
you can model your code. The values are gotten via POST, so you can use
your language specific code get the values with their specific keys. The
user’s input will be stored in the text POST variable,
so you can alternate the view shown, and perform actions based on that.
They also pass the user’s phone number so you can use that for your
database records, and identification of users.
You
may need to take a minute or two to look at the code to fully
understand it, but this is by far, the easiest USSD implementation out
there.
You can also get more clarity from their official documentation http://docs.africastalking.com/ussd . Feel free to use this snippet to play around on your own setup.
They also have a Simulator too!
Life
is always easy when one can test what they’re developing, and they were
thorough enough to make an awesome simulator for all their services.
Link: https://simulator.africastalking.com:1517/ You can try my demo USSD application with *384*1300#
Now, for what you’ve been eager to know... PRICING!
While they said they have no “setup” cost, you’ll be charged NGN 20,000 monthly for each live USSD code. And that’s not all, each session(whenever a user dials your USSD code), it would cost NGN 3.
However, this NGN 3 charge can be passed to the customer, and if the
customer doesn’t have sufficient airtime, they won’t be able to access
the USSD code. And of course, you(application owner) can incur the NGN 3
charge for each session, it all depends on your use-case, and what you
want.
That
being said, I did drop my 2 cents on the pricing at session; Obviously
not discounting the fact that they’re doing a great deal by making such a
“closely guarded” service available to the public for only NGN 20,000 a
month, I just had to mention that, NGN 20,000 monthly is a high bar for
some developers that just want to play with the api to produce greatness, and in my opinion, NGN 5,000 monthly seemed do-able, especially for start-ups that are just looking for ways to make their customers life easier with USSD.
Samuel(CEO of Africa’s Talking) said he’ll relay that to his commercial
team and they’ll see what they can do — let’s hope that turns out to be
positive.
Summary
I
love what they have now, I think it’s sufficient for a start. The team
seems very passionate about what they’re doing, and they have so much
exciting plans for the future. They also mentioned they’re partnering
with Flutterwave to make USSD payments with Nigerian banks available
soon, so we can keep our fingers crossed for that.
Ps:
Their USSD code is only available on MTN and 9Mobile currently, they
said Glo is coming very soon(in a month, I think…), and Airtel would
follow.
Useful links:
Website:https://africastalking.com/
Documentation: http://docs.africastalking.com/
Github code samples: https://github.com/JaniKibichi/shepherd
Douglas Kendyson
Medium member since Apr 2019
Full-stack developer…and I also “passively” manage Selar.co(Africa’s shopify/gumroad). kendyson@kendyson.com
Devcenter Square Blog
Devcenter
Square is the largest online community of Software Development talent
in Sub-Saharan Africa. Here's a collection of developer stories,
tutorials and articles managed by Core. To submit articles or for
partnerships, please email comms@devcenter.co
Responses
Never miss a story from Devcenter Square Blog, when you sign up for Medium. Learn more
