Utilities, ISPs & solar · Uganda

SMS for utilities, ISPs and solar companies in Uganda

Customers of Ugandan ISPs, water providers and pay-as-you-go solar companies pay small amounts often, mostly by mobile money. Each payment, expiry and outage is a moment to send a clear SMS. eSMS Africa connects to your billing or network monitoring system so customers get confirmations and alerts on MTN and Airtel without calling support.

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MTN, Airtel, Lycamobile, Uganda Telecom Delivery reports From UGX 35 per SMS

NETWAVEUGTransactional

NETWAVE UG: Your 20Mbps home plan expires 14/11. Renew UGX 150,000 via MTN MoMo merchant 556677 or Airtel Money, ref A/C 30021.

127 chars · 1 segment · GSM-7

Uganda context

What makes utilities, isps & solar messaging different in Uganda

Electricity is mostly prepaid with Yaka tokens bought by mobile money, so many households already expect to receive a token or receipt by SMS after paying.
The National Water and Sewerage Corporation serves towns across the country, and water bills can be paid by mobile money with an account number.
Pay-as-you-go solar home systems are common outside the grid. Customers pay in instalments by MoMo and the system unlocks for the period paid, so payment confirmations and expiry warnings are central to the service.
Home and business fibre and wireless internet in Kampala, Entebbe and other towns is sold on monthly plans that customers renew by mobile money.

What to send

Messages utilities, isps & solar teams in Uganda send

Payment confirmations

Confirm each payment with the amount, the account or device number and the new expiry date, or deliver the unlock code for solar and prepaid systems.

Expiry and renewal reminders

Remind internet or solar customers two days before their plan expires, with the amount and mobile money merchant code, so service is not interrupted and support lines stay quiet.

Outage and maintenance alerts

Tell affected customers about planned maintenance in advance, and send an alert and a service-restored notice for unplanned outages, targeted by area or network node.

Installation appointments

Confirm the technician's visit window, name and phone number, and send a reminder on the morning of the installation so someone is home to let them in.

Usage and bill notices

Send monthly bill amounts or meter readings with the due date and how to pay, which reduces disputes and support calls when the bill arrives.

Sample messages

Copy-ready templates for Uganda

Character counts and segments are calculated with the same GSM-7 and Unicode rules used for billing. Replace the example brand and values with your own.

Internet renewal reminder Transactional

NETWAVE UG: Your 20Mbps home plan expires 14/11. Renew UGX 150,000 via MTN MoMo merchant 556677 or Airtel Money, ref A/C 30021.

127 chars · 1 segment · GSM-7

Solar payment and code Transactional

SUNBOX SOLAR: Payment of UGX 30,000 received for device SN-88213. Unlock code 4492 7710 3381. Active until 12/12.

113 chars · 1 segment · GSM-7

Outage alert Transactional

NETWAVE UG: Fibre outage in Ntinda and Kiwatule since 10:15am. Engineers on site; expected fix by 2pm. We apologise for the disruption.

135 chars · 1 segment · GSM-7

Installation visit Transactional

NETWAVE UG: Your installation is booked for Thu 13/11, 9am-12pm. Technician Brian (0701 000000) will call before arriving.

122 chars · 1 segment · GSM-7

Rules that apply

Compliance for utilities, isps & solar SMS in Uganda

A practical summary with sources, not legal advice. Check the regulator's current text for edge cases.

Payment confirmations, expiry notices and outage alerts are service messages. Upgrades and partner offers are commercial and need consent or a recent relationship, a STOP opt-out and daytime timing under the UCC 2019 regulations.
Regulation 10 requires clear pricing with no hidden charges and an accurate organisation identifier in each message, so state fees and plan prices exactly as billed.
Customer account numbers, addresses and usage data are personal data under the Data Protection and Privacy Act, 2019. Register with the PDPO and secure billing exports.
Unlock and token codes work like money. Send them only to the registered account number and never in a group message.

Across Uganda

Telecom regulator: Uganda Communications Commission (UCC)
Data protection: Data Protection and Privacy Act, 2019, Personal Data Protection Office (PDPO) under NITA-U
Languages: English, Luganda, Runyankore, Acholi
Payments: MTN Mobile Money, Airtel Money

The Uganda Communications (Text and Multimedia Messaging) Regulations, 2019 require prior consent for commercial SMS, except for existing customers who were told at collection and given a right to object.
Every message must identify the sender, and opt-out must be free and work with the keyword STOP. Opt-outs must be honoured within 24 hours and records kept for 12 months.
Commercial messages should not be timed for delivery between 19:00 and 06:00 unless the recipient agreed to it. Health, fire and security emergencies are exempt.
Under the Data Protection and Privacy Act, a person can require you to stop direct marketing to them, and organisations that process personal data must register with the PDPO.

Sender ID registration in Uganda

Send it

From your system to MTN and Airtel in one call

1Create an account and copy a test key (esms_test_...) to try the integration without spending credit.
2Request your sender ID for Uganda. Until it is approved you can send from the eSMS default sender.
3Call the send endpoint from your app, or upload a CSV in the dashboard with merge fields like {{name}}. Delivery reports arrive by webhook.

Need one-time codes? eSMS Verify generates, sends and checks them in two calls. Full reference in the API docs.

curl -X POST https://sms.esmsafrica.io/api/messages/send \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ESMS_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "to": "+256712345678",
    "text": "NETWAVE UG: Payment of UGX 150,000 received for A/C 30021. Plan active until 14/12.",
    "sender_id": "NETWAVEUG"
  }'

Live pricing

SMS pricing in Uganda

Per-SMS rates for one segment, updated live. Pay as you go with no monthly minimum; volume rates apply automatically by monthly spend.

Basic

UGX35

per SMS· USD 0.0083

Monthly spend USD 1 - USD 1,000

Business

UGX30

per SMS· USD 0.0071

Monthly spend USD 1,001 - USD 4,999

Enterprise

UGX25

per SMS· USD 0.0059

Monthly spend USD 5,000+

Estimate a campaign with the SMS cost calculator or compare all countries in the Africa SMS pricing index.

FAQ

Utilities, ISPs & solar SMS in Uganda: common questions

Can our billing system send unlock codes automatically?

Yes. When a mobile money payment is confirmed, your platform calls the eSMS API with the customer's number and the generated code. Delivery reports tell you if a phone was off or out of coverage, so support can resend the code or call the customer before they report a locked system.

How do we alert only customers in one area?

Tag customers by area or network node when you import them, or pass the affected list from your monitoring system to the bulk endpoint. Only those customers get the outage and restored messages, which keeps everyone else from wondering whether their own service is affected.

Do outage alerts at night break the UCC rules?

Regulation 19's limit covers commercial communications. An alert about a service failure that affects the customer is not a promotion. Many ISPs still hold non-urgent maintenance notices for the daytime to avoid waking customers, and send only the alerts that affect service right now.