Premium SMS lets you charge subscribers for content directly on their airtime or postpaid bill — Safaricom, Airtel and Telkom collect, reconcile and pay you out. No M-Pesa step, no card forms, no chargebacks.
Same API, same shortcode pool, same reconciliation. Pick by how you want to bill — recurring or per-request.
Recurring daily, weekly or monthly charges — perfect for daily tips, news, devotionals, sports digests and entertainment.
FARM)STOPPer-request billing — customer texts a keyword, you charge once, you deliver content. Quizzes, tips, votes, scores, lookups.
GOAL)linkId from webhook ties reply to billingPremium SMS is the only Sozuri product where the carrier — not your project credit — collects the money. Sozuri handles the platform, reconciles with the carrier, and pays out your share.
Apply through Sozuri. Each carrier sets the per-message tariff at contract time. Approval takes 2–4 weeks and requires content review.
Whether by keyword opt-in or via your own form, every subscriber's consent must be logged. Sozuri stores it for carrier audits.
POST messages via /v1/premium. Carrier debits subscribers' airtime, sends a monthly statement; Sozuri credits your account.
The channel becomes premium, you add a keyword, and (for on-demand) the linkId from the inbound webhook.
# Send to an active subscriber
curl -X POST "https://api.sozuri.net/v1/premium" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $SOZURI_API_KEY" \
-d '{
"project": "Farm Tips",
"from": "84320",
"number": "+254712345678",
"channel": "premium",
"type": "subscription",
"keyword": "FARM",
"message": "Today: water maize at the V6 stage for 10% higher yield.",
"campaign": "daily-tip"
}'Approval involves carrier KYC, content review and tariff negotiation. Plan on 2–4 weeks per carrier. Sozuri walks you through the application and submits on your behalf.
The subscriber's airtime or postpaid bill is debited by the carrier. The carrier remits to Sozuri via the monthly reconciliation statement. Sozuri pays you out your share less the revenue split agreed at onboarding.
Yes. Every opt-in (whether by keyword or via your own consent form) is logged with timestamp and source. The audit trail is exportable for carrier inspections.
Subscription is recurring revenue: you build an audience and charge daily/weekly/monthly. On-demand is pay-per-keyword: you charge each time the subscriber asks for something. Many publishers run both on the same shortcode — e.g. a daily subscription plus on-demand "extras".
Sit in the M-Pesa queue or get paid through airtime. For repeat-content products, the carrier rail is faster, smoother, and never forgets to debit.