SMS API for Somalia: bulk SMS to +252 numbers

Somalia, located in the Horn of Africa, has Mogadishu as its capital and an economy driven by livestock, agriculture, and remittances. Software products sending SMS include mobile money platforms, logistics companies, and humanitarian organizations. Messages are triggered by transactions, delivery updates, and emergency alerts. SMS is chosen because it reaches all mobile users, including those in rural areas with basic phones, and is read quickly.

Somalia

Calling code +252

Per SMS segment
$0.01277
Messages for $100
7,830
Local language
Somali and Arabic
Encoding
GSM-7

What a bulk SMS send to Somalia costs

Every message is priced at $0.01277 per segment to Somalia. Texts over 160 GSM-7 or 70 Unicode characters are split into segments, so a two-segment text costs twice as much.
Messages1 segment2 segments
1$0.01277$0.02554
1,000$12.77$25.54
10,000$127.70$255.40
100,000$1,277.00$2,554.00

Number format in Somalia

Mobile numbers in Somalia have 8 digits after +252 and no trunk prefix, so the local form 7 1123456 becomes +252 7 1123456 in the to field.

Alphabet and segments

Somali and Arabic text stays inside the GSM-7 alphabet, so one segment to Somalia holds 160 characters and each part of a longer text 153. Watch for curly quotes and emoji copied from other tools: one of them moves the whole text to Unicode at 70 characters per segment, and POST /v1/estimates shows the encoding before you send.

Time zone and timing

Somalia keeps UTC+3 all year with no clock change, so 09:00 in Mogadishu is always 06:00 UTC. send_at takes UTC or any ISO 8601 offset, and the console scheduler converts from your own time zone.

Send to Somalia with one request

The answer comes back at once with the message id, the country the number was matched to (SO) and the price. A delivered or failed event follows on your webhook, and a failed message is refunded.

For a list, send the same text to up to 10,000 numbers with POST /v1/batches, or a personal text per number in messages.

curl https://bulksmsapi.cc/v1/messages \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $BULKSMSAPI_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"to": "+25271123456", "text": "Your Northwind code is 482913. It expires in 10 minutes."}'

What developers send to Somalia

Common integrations that call the SMS API for recipients in Somalia.

Mobile money

A user in Mogadishu receives a text confirming a mobile money transfer to a family member in Hargeisa.

Delivery updates

A logistics company sends a text to a customer in Kismayo notifying them of their package's arrival.

Emergency alerts

A humanitarian organization sends a flood warning to residents in the Lower Shabelle region.

Appointment reminders

A clinic in Garowe texts a patient to confirm their vaccination appointment the next day.

SMS to Somalia: questions

More answers on accounts, payments and the API are in the FAQ.

How much does it cost to send bulk SMS to Somalia?

Each message segment to Somalia costs $0.01277. A plain text of up to 160 characters is one segment, so 1,000 one-segment messages cost $12.77 and 10,000 cost $127.70. Failed messages are refunded to the balance.

How many SMS to Somalia does a $100 top-up send?

$100 covers about 7,830 one-segment messages to Somalia at $0.01277 each. The first top-up adds a bonus on top, which raises that number. The balance is shared by every country, so the same top-up also pays for messages anywhere else on the list.

How do I write Somalia numbers for the API?

Send them in international format with the plus sign: +252 7 1123456 becomes "+25271123456" in the to field. The API also accepts spaces, dashes and a 00 prefix and cleans them, and numbers that cannot be read are listed in set_aside instead of being charged.

Which language should SMS messages be in?

Somali is the primary language for most residents, but English is widely understood, especially in urban areas like Mogadishu. Use Somali for broader reach.

How can SMS reach nomadic communities?

SMS is ideal for reaching nomadic populations in regions like Puntland and Somaliland, as mobile phones are common even in remote areas.

Start sending to Somalia

Create an account, top up from $40 and send to Somalia at $0.01277 per segment, from the console or with one API call.

SMS API Somalia: Bulk SMS to +252 From $0.01277 | BulkSMSAPI