OTP & Transactional SMS

OTP (One-Time Password) and transactional SMS are critical for authentication, security, and customer notifications. Tegasms prioritizes these messages for delivery in seconds, not minutes.

What is OTP and transactional SMS

OTP SMS, One-time passwords sent for account verification, login confirmation, or password resets. These messages must arrive quickly and reliably.

Transactional SMS, Automated alerts about customer transactions, such as:

Order confirmations
Payment receipts
Shipment tracking updates
Account balance notifications
Password reset links

Both types require high-priority routing and near-instant delivery.

Why OTP and transactional SMS matter

These messages are time-sensitive and critical to user experience. A delayed OTP code frustrates users. A missed payment confirmation creates support tickets. Tegasms handles these with:

High-priority routing, OTP messages skip the queue and go out immediately
2.3 second average delivery, Most messages arrive in under 3 seconds
99.8% delivery rate, Tegasms maintains direct connections with carriers to ensure reliability
Automatic retries, Failed messages are automatically retried to maximize delivery

Use cases

Authentication & Security

Account signup verification
Login confirmation codes
Password reset links
Two-factor authentication (2FA)
Account recovery codes

Transaction Notifications

Order confirmations
Payment receipts
Refund notifications
Shipping updates
Delivery notifications

Account Alerts

Low balance warnings
Suspicious activity alerts
Subscription renewal reminders
Account expiration notices

Sending OTP via dashboard

For manual OTP sending:

Log in to your Tegasms dashboard
Click "Send OTP" or "Send Transactional SMS"
Enter the recipient phone number
Type your message (include the OTP code)
Click "Send Now"

The message is marked as high-priority and delivered within seconds.

Sending OTP via API

For applications that need to send OTP programmatically, use the Tegasms API:

curl -X POST https://api.tegasms.co.tz/send \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "to": "+255712345678",
    "message": "Your verification code is 123456",
    "type": "otp"
  }'

The API returns immediately with delivery status. Most messages arrive within 2-3 seconds.

note

Replace YOUR_API_KEY with your actual API key from your dashboard. See API Overview for authentication details.

Message best practices

Keep it short, OTP messages should be concise:

Include only the code and essential context
Avoid marketing language or extra details
Example: "Your verification code is 123456. Valid for 10 minutes."

Add expiration info, Tell users how long the code is valid:

"Valid for 10 minutes"
"Expires in 1 hour"
"One-time use only"

Include a support contact, If the user didn't request the code:

"If you didn't request this, ignore this message"
"Contact support at help@example.com if you have questions"

Use clear formatting, Make the code stand out:

Put the code on its own line
Use all caps or numbers only
Example: "Code: 123456"

Delivery guarantees

Tegasms commits to:

2.3 second average delivery, 99% of OTP messages arrive within 3 seconds
99.8% delivery rate, Direct carrier connections ensure reliability
Automatic retries, Failed messages are retried automatically
Detailed logs, Every message is logged with timestamp and delivery status

Pricing

OTP and transactional SMS use the same volume-based pricing as bulk SMS:

1 to 10,000 SMS: TZS 19.00 per SMS
10,001 to 25,000 SMS: TZS 18.00 per SMS
25,001+ SMS: TZS 17.00 per SMS and lower

See Pricing for complete details.

tip

For high-volume OTP senders (100K+ messages monthly), contact support at info@tegasms.co.tz for enterprise pricing and dedicated infrastructure.