Building and Testing USSD and SMS Applications

Deliver your applications to the end user on USSD and SMS using PHP and MySQL

Created by: Dr. Derdus Kenga
Software Engineer and Teacher

What Will I Learn?

• Uses of USSD applications
• Relationship between USSD applications and mobile network operators (MNO)
• Types of SMS - Two-way SMS (shortcode), Premium SMS (selling content to users using SMS) and branded SMS (sender ID/alphanumeric)
• USSD handling (USSD-MO & USSD-MT)
• The HTTP protocol, Object Oriented PHP and PHP inbuilt functions
• Designing USSD menus
• USSD menus navigation - Going forward, going back and going back to main menu
• Handling Invalid entries in USSD menus
• Testing USSD menus using postman and ngrok
• Connecting USSD menu to application logic
• Connecting USSD application to MySQL database
• Adding SMS functionality to USSD application
• Testing USSD application using simulator/sandbox
• Moving USSD application from sandbox to live environment
• Exploring Africa's Talking USSD and SMS gateway
• Monetizing USSD and SMS application

Requirements

• Basic understanding of PHP programming language & web applications.
• Basic understanding of web APIs
• Basic understanding of MySQL databases

Target audience

• College students in IT and computer science
• College professors/lecturers
• Marketers
• Industry experts in IT
• Entrepreneurs