SMS API for Tanzania: bulk SMS to +255 numbers

Tanzania is an East African country with Dodoma as its capital and Dar es Salaam as its largest city, known for agriculture, mining, and tourism. Messages are triggered by events like mobile money transactions, safari booking confirmations, or exam result notifications. SMS is preferred because it reaches all phones, works without internet, and is trusted by users.

Tanzania

Calling code +255

Per SMS segment
$0.00877
Messages for $100
11,402
Local language
English and Swahili
Encoding
GSM-7

What a bulk SMS send to Tanzania costs

Every message is priced at $0.00877 per segment to Tanzania. 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$0.00877$0.01754
1,000$8.77$17.54
10,000$87.70$175.40
100,000$877.00$1,754.00

Number format in Tanzania

Mobile numbers in Tanzania have 9 digits after +255. Locally they are written with a leading 0 (0621 234 567); in the API that 0 is dropped, so the same number goes in the to field as +255 621 234 567.

Alphabet and segments

English and Swahili text stays inside the GSM-7 alphabet, so one segment to Tanzania 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

Tanzania keeps UTC+3 all year with no clock change, so 09:00 in Dar es Salaam 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 Tanzania with one request

The answer comes back at once with the message id, the country the number was matched to (TZ) 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": "+255621234567", "text": "Your Northwind code is 482913. It expires in 10 minutes."}'

What developers send to Tanzania

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

Mobile money

Mobile banking apps send SMS confirmations to users in Dar es Salaam for deposits, withdrawals, and transfers.

Exam results

Universities in Dodoma send SMS notifications to students when their exam results are published online.

Utility bills

Electricity providers in Mwanza send SMS reminders to customers about upcoming bill due dates.

SMS to Tanzania: questions

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

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

Each message segment to Tanzania costs $0.00877. A plain text of up to 160 characters is one segment, so 1,000 one-segment messages cost $8.77 and 10,000 cost $87.70. Failed messages are refunded to the balance.

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

$100 covers about 11,402 one-segment messages to Tanzania at $0.00877 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 Tanzania numbers for the API?

Send them in international format with the plus sign: +255 621 234 567 becomes "+255621234567" 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.

What language should SMS messages in Tanzania use?

Swahili is the most widely spoken language and is ideal for SMS. English can be used for messages targeting international visitors or professionals.

How does SMS reach rural areas in Tanzania?

SMS is effective in rural areas because it works on basic phones and does not require internet access. It is a reliable way to communicate with residents in these regions.

Start sending to Tanzania

Create an account, top up from $40 and send to Tanzania at $0.00877 per segment, from the console or with one API call.

SMS API Tanzania: Bulk SMS to +255 From $0.00877 | BulkSMSAPI