Set up transactional SMS and OTP across Africa

Separate use cases: login OTP, transaction alerts, account recovery, marketing, support, or two-way messaging. Consent and delivery priorities differ.

Build a country and network matrix for destinations, sender-ID registration, local templates, restricted content, opt-out rules, expected delivery time, and pricing.

Compare Sendchamp, Africa's Talking, and Termii for your target countries and channels. Confirm production coverage rather than assuming every channel works everywhere.

Register sender IDs and WhatsApp templates early. Approval can take longer than the API integration and may require business documents or local operator review.

Keep API keys server-side, use short-lived hashed OTPs, enforce expiry and attempt limits, rate-limit by account and device, and never log plaintext codes.

Use provider delivery receipts and idempotent message IDs. Do not report an OTP as delivered merely because the provider accepted the API request.

Add resend controls and a fallback route or channel for critical authentication, while preventing multiple valid codes from confusing the user.

Monitor delivery rate, latency, failure reason, cost, retry volume, and fraud by country and network. Review sender rules and pricing before every new-country launch.