Legal

Mobile Messaging Terms
Definitions

“GSM/CDMA Network” means the GSM/CDMA cellular network over which the SMS, USSD, Voice or any mobile communication will be delivered

Mobile Terminating” means SMS messages sent to a cellular phone on the GSM/CDMA Network.

“MSISDN” means a telephone number on the GSM Network and, in terms of this agreement, those numbers specifically provided to SMSGH by the Customer.

“Recipient” means the person(s) receiving the SMS, USSD, Voice message and/or any other mobile communication channel.

“Service(s)” means the method(s) of dissemination of SMS, USSD or Voice messages used by the Customer.

“Short Message Service” or “SMS” means a 160-character (including spaces) text message that is sent to or from a cellular telephone. Only

“valid” characters will be allowed.

“USSD” or Unstructured Supplementary Service Data is a 182-character alphanumeric (including spaces) session-based message, which begins with a star (‘*’) sign and ends with a hash (“#”) sign. An example is *124#

“Sender ID” means the identity of the sender of an SMS, USSD or Voice message. “Valid SMS characters are: !#%&()*+,-./0123456789:;<=> ?@ABCDEFGHIJKLM NOPQRSTUVWXYZ_ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzéè

“Valid Sender ID” characters are: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzéè 1234567890

SMS Messaging Terms and Conditions

The terms set out below shall apply to the provision of the Service(s) purchased by the Customer.

The Service(s) shall allow the Customer to send Mobile Terminating SMS, USSD, Voice messages and/or any other channels of mobile communication. In order to make use of the Service(s), the Customer shall send messages to Hubtel utilizing one of the Service(s) specified connection methods by Hubtel. Hubtel will disseminate the messages over the GSM/CDMA Network to the specified MSISDN(s).

Any applications provided by Hubtel will be supported by Hubtel and are provided with separate guarantee and Service Level Agreements. Hubtel warrants that the SMS, USSD, Voice and/or other mobile communication services/application has been specifically designed for a particular service, industry or Customer type and the service is for general-purpose use.

The Customer may pay a connection fee as prescribed. All Service(s) used by the Customer will be billed on one account. Hubtel may change the charges for Service(s) on one month’s notice to the Customer. Where a monthly contract applies, monthly invoices will be printed and together with a statement, will be posted or emailed to the Customer.

The Customer shall restrict all SMS text messages to not more than 480 valid SMS text messages characters (including spaces); and restrict all USSD messages to no more than 182 characters (including spaces). Any message submitted that is longer than the specified valid number of characters (including spaces) will be cut off at the valid number of characters (including spaces). The Customer will be charged per every 160 SMS characters and notification per Service as stated on our Fees page. All prices exclude VAT/NHIL and other government taxes including Communication Service Taxes. The Customer will be charged for all messages submitted to Hubtel for dissemination.

In the event of any amount owed by the Customer remaining unpaid on the due date, Hubtel shall be entitled to suspend the Service/s immediately, without notice to the Customer. Interest will be charged on all overdue accounts at the rate charged by United Bank for Africa from time to time.

The Customer hereby indemnifies and holds harmless Hubtel against any claim or action by the Customer or any third party, in respect of any damages, prejudice or costs incurred or suffered by the Customer and/or any third party arising out of the use of the Service/s or any act or omission on the part of Hubtel in the provision of the Service(s).

For Hubtel to maintain integrity as the leading broker of mobile messaging traffic for all cellular networks across Africa, no customer may use the suite of Hubtel SMS products to poach or solicit potential customers or subscribers from any cellular network operators in Kenya, Nigeria, Cameroon and Ghana. Such an act will result in immediate permanent suspension.

Messages submitted by the Customer will be accepted and billed based on the relevant authentication method per Service. It is the Customer’s responsibility to protect its means of authentication. Hubtel will not be responsible for any misuse of the Customer’s authentication keys, logins and passwords, nor will any credit be allowed for such misuse.

The Customer is responsible for the content and accuracy of any SMS sent on their account. The Customer will adhere to an appropriate code of conduct when utilizing the Service/s. Sending of unsolicited advertising material, illegal content, inappropriate language or any message that may be viewed by the Recipient as being of contentious or offensive nature is not permitted and may, at the sole discretion of Hubtel, result in the immediate termination of the Service(s).

Hubtel guarantees the confidentiality of both the MSISDN/s and messages submitted by the Customer during utilization of the Service/s. Submitted MSISDN/s will not be distributed in any way to third parties by Hubtel. Hubtel agrees not to use submitted MSISDN/s for purposes other than the Service/s requested by the Customer.

The Customer agrees to append its name or corporate identity to any broadcast messages that are sent to distribution lists. This includes but is not limited to advertising, marketing and promotional materials.

The Customer shall present proof of a Recipient’s consent to the delivery of SMS. Should Hubtel receive any complaints from Recipients regarding the receipt of unsolicited SMS, Hubtel will notify the Customer thereof. Similarly, should the Customer receive any complaint from any Recipient regarding the receipt of any SMS, the Customer will immediately notify Hubtel. The abuse of the sending of unsolicited SMS’s by the Customer or the omission to notify Hubtel of any complaint referred to above may, at the sole discretion of Hubtel, result in immediate termination of the Service(s).

This agreement is be governed by the local laws of Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon and Kenya as applicable and both Hubtel and all Customers agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the courts of our operating countries in the event that any proceeding shall be brought under the terms of this agreement.

USSD Terms and Conditions

Hubtel shall provide the USSD service description below:

Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (or ‘USSD’) is an interactive, low-cost, mobile phone-driven service that communicates between the subscribers and applications, typically in a text-menu format. Users initiate a request, which then communicates with an application on a server and instantiates a unique session. A USSD session allows for an interactive exchange of information as long as the session is active.

The initiation of the communication can either be USSD-PUSH (Mobile Terminated and Provider Originated) or a USSD-PULL (Mobile Originated and Provider Terminated). SMSGH USSD service works using a connection-oriented HTTP API between Hubtel USSD gateway and the customer application.

Hubtel shall provide first level Customer Support functions not limited to regular quarterly maintenance and system upgrades, 24/7 Engineer access via telephone and SMS, periodic Service upgrade and fixes and detailed reporting on customer request.

Service Availability

Hubtel shall provide a commercial quality USSD Service at all times during the term of this agreement. Hubtel cannot guarantee the quality of the origination or termination of USSD messages. Service may be degraded when there are call quality challenges with the Mobile Operator.

Service Deliverables

Upon accepting this Agreement, the Customer agrees to pay the initial lump sum rental amount for 90 days.

Customer forfeits USSD code reservation when payment is not received within 14 days of first rental charge.

The customer shall honor a monthly rental cost. An invoice is sent 14 days before the current rental expires.

The rental fee must be paid before the expiration of the current rental period.

USSD sessions will be charged on the Customer’s messaging credit. This is billed on a Pay As You Go basis.

USSD requests will not be forwarded to the Customer’s application when there are no messaging credit on his/her account.

Failure to make a renewal USSD code rental payment before the rental expires will lead to an automatic deactivation of code from the user’s account.

Any disputed charge or wrongful billing or invoicing on a user account may be brought to Hubtel’s attention by either verbal or written notification.

Ownership

Except for rights granted by Customer to Hubtel or any other affiliated partner, all derivative data, subscriptions and usage involving third parties and subscribers of the service shall be the exclusive property, and rights of Customer. For the avoidance of doubt, Hubtel shall retain system ownership and intellectual property rights in the USSD Service, and any other derivative work developed for the Customer.

Exclusivity Rights to Database

Except for rights or permissions granted to SMSGH via written notification, the Customer shall hold the exclusive rights to all sections of their customer and/or subscriber database.

Warranties and Indemnification

Hubtel warrants that it has the full power and authority to enter into and perform its obligations under this Agreement. Customer represents and warrants that it has the full power to enter into this Agreement and perform its obligations under this Agreement.

Payment Terms

The customer shall honor all bill payments via Bank deposits, Cheques or Bank draft or Mobile Money issued in the name of Hubtel. Any disputed charge or wrongful billing or invoicing on user account may be brought to SMSGH’s attention by either verbal or written notification.

The fees to be paid to Hubtel by you are set forth on our fees and pricing page or communicated to You via email. Hubtel has the right to issue a price change to You without notice.

All charges and fees for the Services are exclusive of any taxes, including sales, value-added, or other taxes. The customer shall be liable for and shall reimburse Hubtel for all sales or value-added taxes imposed in connection with or arising from the provision of Services to Customer. The customer will provide Hubtel sufficient information as to the timely payment of all applicable withholding taxes if so required by Hubtel.

Payments and payment terms to be made by the Customer to Hubtel for the Services are on Pre-Paid terms. Hubtel shall not be obliged to perform any Services under this Agreement if You have not provided payments.

Payment Terms (Hubtel)

All mobile messaging credits remain the property of Hubtel until payment is received in full.

Payments and payment terms to be made by you to Hubtel for the Services are on pre-paid terms. Hubtel reserves the exclusive rights of granting Post-Paid status to Your account subject to our own evaluation and/or terms. Hubtel shall not be obliged to perform any Services under this Agreement if You have not provided payments.

The fees to be paid to Hubtel by You are set forth on our fees and pricing pages or communicated to You via email. Hubtel has the right to issue a price change to You without notice.

The prices for Outbound SMS/bulk SMS messaging services set forth on our fees and pricing page or communicated to You via email shall apply for the number of messages submitted by You to the Hubtel Platform.

All charges and fees for the Services are exclusive of any taxes, including sales, value-added, or other taxes. You shall be liable for and shall reimburse Hubtel for all sales or value-added taxes imposed in connection with or arising from the provision of Services to You. You will provide Hubtel sufficient information as to the timely payment of all applicable withholding taxes if so required by Hubtel.

Hubtel has the right to charge its customers in arrears for interworking charges that their traffic has generated in relation to sending to ported numbers. Such charges need to be based on operator invoices and will be added to the customer’s invoice the month after Hubtel has received the Mobile Network Operator’s invoice. Hubtel is obliged to inform customers before adding such interworking related charges to their invoice.

Refund Policy

Once You have purchased mobile messaging credits from us and the credits have been applied to Your account, we cannot provide You with a refund. Our policy is not to refund any unused credits.

However, if upon using the credits You found You were dissatisfied with the quality of delivery of SMS messages, You may claim a refund from us by simply emailing us at [email protected] specifying the reasons for requesting the refund. The more informative this is, the quicker the process. We’ll respond to Your refund request within 3 days.

If we investigate and find Your claim to be legitimate, we will agree to Your request for a refund and send You a confirmation email or SMS and also top-up Your SMS credits or refund Your payment via a method of Your choosing. Do note that You shall bear all charges relating to a Money Transfer.

Privacy Policy

What information do we collect? We collect information from You when You register on our site, place an order or fill out a form. When ordering or registering on our site, as appropriate, You may be asked to enter Your [name, e-mail address, postal address, physical address or credit card information.] You may, however, visit our site anonymously.

What do we use Your information for? Any of the information we collect from You may be used in one of the following ways; To personalize Your experience (Your information helps us to better respond to Your individual needs) To improve our website (we continually strive to improve our website offerings based on the information and feedback we receive from You) To improve customer service (Your information helps us to more effectively respond to Your customer service requests and support needs) To process transactions Your information, whether public or private, will not be sold, exchanged, transferred, or given to any other company for any reason whatsoever, without Your consent, other than for the express purpose of delivering the purchased product or service requested. To send periodic emails (The email address You provide for order processing, will only be used to send You information and updates pertaining to Your order).

How do we protect Your information? We implement a variety of security measures to maintain the safety of Your personal information when You place an order or enter, submit, or access Your personal information. We offer the use of a secure server. All supplied sensitive/credit information is transmitted via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology and then encrypted into our Payment gateway providers database only to be accessible by those authorized with special access rights to such systems, and are required to keep the information confidential. After a transaction, Your private information (credit cards, social security numbers, financials, etc.) will not be stored on our servers.

Do we use cookies? Yes (Cookies are small files that a site or its service provider transfers to Your computers hard drive through Your Web browser (if You allow) that enables the sites or service providers systems to recognize Your browser and capture and remember certain information.

Do we disclose any information to outside parties? We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties Your personally identifiable information. This does not include trusted third parties who assist us in operating our website, conducting our business, or servicing You, so long as those parties agree to keep this information confidential. We may also release Your information when we believe release is appropriate to comply with the law, enforce our site policies, or protect ours or others rights, property, or safety. However, non-personally identifiable visitor information may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses.

Third-party links Occasionally, at our discretion, we may include or offer third-party products or services on our website. These third-party sites have separate and independent privacy policies. We, therefore, have no responsibility or liability for the content and activities of these linked sites. Nonetheless, we seek to protect the integrity of our site and welcome any feedback about these sites.

Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Compliance:  We comply with the requirements of COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act), we do not collect any information from anyone under 13 years of age. Our website, products and services are all directed to people who are at least 13 years old or older.

Your Consent – By using our site You consent to our privacy policy. If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes on this page. 

Anti Spam

In compliance with the industry regulator:

A particular Sender ID shall not send messages to the same target audience more than three times in a month. Sender IDs that attempt to do this will have subsequent messages blocked and will be prompted of this.

Messages shall be sent from Monday to Saturday between 8am – 7pm.

Lead Generation

The Advertiser bears the cost for characters of this text “Dial [USSD] if you are interested in this campaign”. This prompt allows you to get in touch with recipients interested in your campaign. This text is appended to your message.

The Advertiser is advised against editing the USSD as we might be unable to track leads of that particular campaign.

Messaging Content Accuracy

The Advertiser is responsible for the content and accuracy of any SMS sent on their account. The Advertiser will adhere to an appropriate code of conduct when utilizing the Service/s. Sending of illegal content, inappropriate language or any message that may be viewed by the Recipient as being of contentious or offensive nature is not permitted and may, at the sole discretion of Hubtel result in the immediate termination of the Service/s.