SMS API for Uganda: bulk SMS to +256 numbers
Uganda
Calling code +256
- Per SMS segment
- $0.01327
- Messages for $100
- 7,535
- Local language
- English
- Encoding
- GSM-7
What a bulk SMS send to Uganda costs
| Messages | 1 segment | 2 segments |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $0.01327 | $0.02654 |
| 1,000 | $13.27 | $26.54 |
| 10,000 | $132.70 | $265.40 |
| 100,000 | $1,327.00 | $2,654.00 |
Number format in Uganda
Mobile numbers in Uganda have 9 digits after +256. Locally they are written with a leading 0 (0712 345678); in the API that 0 is dropped, so the same number goes in the to field as +256 712 345678.
Alphabet and segments
English text stays inside the GSM-7 alphabet, so one segment to Uganda 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
Uganda keeps UTC+3 all year with no clock change, so 09:00 in Kampala 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 Uganda with one request
The answer comes back at once with the message id, the country the number was matched to (UG) 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": "+256712345678", "text": "Your Northwind code is 482913. It expires in 10 minutes."}'const res = await fetch("https://bulksmsapi.cc/v1/messages", {
method: "POST",
headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.BULKSMSAPI_KEY}`, "Content-Type": "application/json" },
body: JSON.stringify({ to: "+256712345678", text: "Your Northwind code is 482913. It expires in 10 minutes." }),
});
console.log(await res.json()); // price: "0.01327", country: "UG"import json, os, urllib.request
req = urllib.request.Request(
"https://bulksmsapi.cc/v1/messages",
data=json.dumps({"to": "+256712345678", "text": "Your Northwind code is 482913. It expires in 10 minutes."}).encode(),
headers={"Authorization": "Bearer " + os.environ["BULKSMSAPI_KEY"], "Content-Type": "application/json", "User-Agent": "northwind-app/1.0"},
method="POST",
)
with urllib.request.urlopen(req) as res:
print(json.load(res)["price"]) # "0.01327"What developers send to Uganda
Mobile money
Mobile money platforms in Kampala send SMS confirmations to users for deposits, withdrawals, and transfers.
Fee reminders
Schools in Jinja send SMS notifications to parents about upcoming tuition fee due dates and payment options.
Appointment confirmations
Clinics in Mbarara send SMS reminders to patients about their scheduled appointments and clinic details.
More countries in East and Southern Africa
SMS to Uganda: questions
More answers on accounts, payments and the API are in the FAQ.
How much does it cost to send bulk SMS to Uganda?
How many SMS to Uganda does a $100 top-up send?
How do I write Uganda numbers for the API?
What language should SMS messages in Uganda use?
How does SMS reach rural areas in Uganda?
Start sending to Uganda
Create an account, top up from $40 and send to Uganda at $0.01327 per segment, from the console or with one API call.