Sending to each African country

eSMS Africa covers all 54 African countries with one API, one key and one wallet. This page lists, for every country, how to write the number, what the sender ID rules are, whether OTP works there today, and whether live delivery is open (Live) or still Coming soon.

Number format

Send every number in international (E.164) format: country code, then the national number without its leading 0.

We never guess the country of a local number. A wrong guess sends the message to a different country's network, so the API refuses it and tells you the international form instead.

When a number is wrong, the error says exactly why:

{
  "error": {
    "code": "invalid_phone_length",
    "message": "Cameroon numbers have 9 digits after +237; '+23767712345' has 8. Example: +237671234567."
  }
}

Live vs Coming soon

• Live - we deliver there today. Enable the country once and send.
• Coming soon - you can enable it and build against it with a test key, but live sends are refused with destination_unavailable and you are never charged. It switches to Live with no change on your side. To ask for a country to be prioritised, email sales@esmsafrica.io with your expected volume and use case.

The table below is a snapshot. The dashboard Countries page and GET /api/send-countries always show the current status for your account.

Sender IDs

Leave sender_id out and the message goes out under the eSMS Africa default sender for that country - no registration needed. To send under your own brand, request a sender ID for each country at Sender IDs in the dashboard (guide). Many networks replace or block unregistered alphanumeric sender IDs, so register before going live with a custom name.

All 54 countries

"Digits" is the length of the national number after the country code.

Cameroon (+237)

Cameroon mobile numbers are 9 digits after +237 and start with 6, for example +237677123456.

OTP is live on MTN and Orange (and Nexttel). Codes typically arrive within about 20 seconds. Send without sender_id to use the eSMS Africa default sender, or register your brand name - MTN requires alphanumeric sender IDs to be pre-registered.

Related

• Enable a country
• Test keys and the sandbox
• OTP best practices by region
• Global coverage - destinations outside Africa