Mobile Commerce in Africa - Scenario 1. Purchase with confirmation via USSD

When performing a purchase, the customer confirms the payment via USSD message which they receive from the provider service.


Countries and regions	Burkina Faso, Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, Togo, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia
Payment currencies	GHS, KES, TZS, UGX, XAF, XOF, ZMW
Payment amount limits	Contact your key account manager at Monetix for details. Also you can check the payment amount limits in your project by using Dashboard.
Payment processing time	Contact your key account manager at Monetix for details.
Currency conversion	On the Monetix side
Refund
Onboarding and access fee	Contact your key account manager at Monetix for details.
Special considerations The amounts for the UGX, XAF, XOF currency must be specified in major currency units (without any fractional part) according to the ISO-4217 alpha-3 standard. For example, if the customer initiates a 1000 UGX purchase in your system, you are required to submit the `1000` as the payment amount in your purchase request. You can check the number of digits for minor currency units for any currency in Currency codes.

Operations support


	Interfaces
	Payment Page	Gate	Dashboard
Purchase

You can check the payment amount limits in your project by using Dashboard. To check your payment amount limits, go to Dashboard, select the Projects section, and then click the Payment methods tab.

The following sections provide more information about the payment processing flow and the analysis of completed payments.

Supported mobile network operators

The table below lists the mobile network operators available for performing purchase with the Mobile Commerce in Africa payment method.

Table 1. Supported mobile network operators
Mobile network operator	ID	Countries	Currencies
Airtel	`AIRTEL`	Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia	KES, UGX, TZS, ZMW
AirtelTigo	`AIRTELTIGO`	Ghana	GHS
CELTIIS	`CELTIIS`	Benin	XOF
Equitel	`EQUITEL`	Kenya	KES
Free	`FREEMONEY`	Senegal	XOF
HaloPesa	`HALOPESA`	Tanzania	TZS
MTN	`MTN`	Benin, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Uganda, Zambia	GHS, UGX, XAF, XOF, ZMW
Moov	`MOOV`	Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Togo	XOF
M-Pesa	`MPESA`	Kenya	KES
Orange	`ORANGE`	Cameroon	XAF
Telecel	`TELECEL`	Ghana	GHS
Telkom Kenya	`TELKOM`	Kenya	KES
Vodacom	`VODACOM`	Tanzania	TZS
Yas	`YAS`	Tanzania, Togo	TZS, XOF
Zamtel	`ZAMTEL`	Zambia	ZMW

Note that the list of mobile network operators in the table is provided for informational purposes only. To get the current list of mobile network operators, send a request to the payment platform as described below:


HTTP request method	POST
Request body format	JSON
API endpoint	/v2/info/mobile/sale/list
Full API endpoint specification	/v2/info/mobile/{operation_type}/list

Table 2. Parameters required in the request for the list of available mobile network operators
Object	Parameter	Description
general	project_id integer strictly required	Project ID you obtained when integrating with Monetix.
general	signature string strictly required	Signature created after you specify all the required parameters. For more information about, signature generation, see Signature generation and verification.

Here is an example of the data from the request for the list of available mobile network operators:

Figure 1. Example of the data from the request for the list of available mobile network operators

{
	"general": {
		"project_id": 1234,
		"signature": "K6jllym+PtObocZtr345st...=="
	}
}

Purchase by using Payment Page

General information

To perform a purchase by using Payment Page with the Mobile Commerce in Africa payment method:

Send a request with all the required parameters and signature to the Monetix URL.
Accept the callback with the purchase result from the payment platform.

The following figure shows the complete purchase processing flow in the Mobile Commerce in Africa payment method.

Figure 2. Purchase processing steps for a purchase by using Payment Page

The customer initiates a purchase in your system.
Your system sends the request for the purchase through Payment Page to the Monetix URL.
The checkout page is displayed to the customer.
The customer chooses to make a purchase with the Mobile Commerce in Africa payment method.
The payment platform processes the request and forwards it to the provider service.
The provider service sends the USSD message to the customer to confirm the payment.
The customer completes the purchase.
The provider service sends the purchase result information to the payment platform.
The payment platform sends a callback with the payment result to your system.
The payment platform displays the payment result to the customer on the checkout page.

Request

The following table lists the parameters that you need to include in the request for purchase through the checkout page with the Mobile Commerce in Africa payment method.

strictly required—the parameter must be in the initial request.

optional—the parameter is optional but adding it to the request either makes the payment process more customer-friendly or helps to increase the percentage of successful payments.

Parameter Description

project_id
integer
strictly required

Project ID you obtained from Monetix when integrating.

Example: 1234

payment_id
string
strictly required

Payment ID unique within your project.

Example: payment_47

customer_id
string
strictly required

Unique ID of the customer within your project.

Example: customer_123

customer_first_name
string
strictly required

Customer's first name.

Example: John

customer_last_name
string
strictly required

Customer's last name.

Example: Doe

customer_email
string
strictly required

Customer's email.

Example: johndoe@example.com

payment_currency
string
strictly required

Code of the payment currency in the ISO-4217 alpha-3 format.

Example: GHS

payment_amount
integer
strictly required

Payment amount in minor currency units without any decimal point or comma except for the cases when the currency doesn't have any minor currency units.

If the currency doesn't have any minor units (i.e. the number of digits for minor currency units is zero), set this parameter to the amount in the major currency units. To check whether the currency has any minor units, see Currency codes.

Example: 1000.00 GHS must be sent as 100000

force_payment_method
string
optional

Parameter that allows you to enforce the Mobile Commerce in Africa payment method for your customer and skip the page with payment method selections.

To enforce the Mobile Commerce in Africa payment method and skip the page with payment method selection, add the force_payment_method parameter to the request and set its value to mobile. For more information about enforcing payment methods, see Preselecting payment methods.

Example: force_payment_method: 'mobile'

signature
string
strictly required

Signature created after you've specified all the request parameters. For more information about signature generation, see Signature generation and verification.

You can also add any other optional parameters to the request, if necessary. For the list of all the parameters possible in requests to Payment Page, see Payment Page invocation parameters.

Here is an example of the data from a request to open the checkout page by using EPayWidget:

EPayWidget.run(
	{
		project_id: 1234,
		payment_id: 'payment_47',
		customer_id: 'customer_123',
		customer_first_name: 'John',
		customer_last_name: 'Doe',
		customer_email: 'johndoe@example.com',
		payment_currency: 'GHS',
		payment_amount: 100000,
		force_payment_method: 'mobile',
		signature: 'kUi2x9dKHAVNU0FYldJrxh4yo+52Kt8KU+Y19vySO/RLUkDJrOcZzUCwX6R/ekpZhkIQg=='
	}
)

You can enforce a country or mobile network operator for your customer on the checkout page. To do so, add the following parameters to the request for the checkout page opening:

Table 4. Parameters to enforce a country or mobile network operator on the checkout page
Object/parameter	Parameter	Description
force_payment_method string optional		Parameter that allows you to enforce the Mobile Commerce in Africa payment method for your customer and skip the page with payment method selections. Set the value of this parameter to `mobile`. Example: `force_payment_method: 'mobile'`
payment_methods_options object optional	enable_mobile_service integer optional	Set the value of this parameter to `1` to enable enforcing a country or mobile network operator on the checkout page.
	selected_operator string optional	ID of the customer's mobile network operator. For the information on how to get the list of supported mobile network operators IDs, see Supported mobile network operators. Example: `MTN`
	selected_country string optional	Customer's country code in the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 format. Example: `GH`

Here is an example of the data from the request to open the checkout page with a mobile network operator enforced for the customer:

EPayWidget.run(
	{
		project_id: 1234,
		payment_id: 'payment_47',
		customer_id: 'customer_123',
		customer_first_name: 'John',
		customer_last_name: 'Doe',
		customer_email: 'johndoe@example.com',
		payment_currency: 'GHS',
		payment_amount: 100000,
		force_payment_method: 'mobile',
		payment_methods_options: {"enable_mobile_service": 1, "selected_operator": "MTN"},  
		signature: 'kUi2x9dKHAVNU0FYldJrxh4yo+52Kt8KU+Y19vySO/RLUkDJrOcZzUCwX6R/ekpZhkIQg=='
	}
)

Here is an example of the data from the request to open the checkout page with a country enforced for the customer:

EPayWidget.run(
	{
		project_id: 1234,
		payment_id: 'payment_47',
		customer_id: 'customer_123',
		customer_first_name: 'John',
		customer_last_name: 'Doe',
		customer_email: 'johndoe@example.com',
		payment_currency: 'GHS',
		payment_amount: 100000,
		force_payment_method: 'mobile',
		payment_methods_options: {"enable_mobile_service": 1, "selected_country": "GH"},
		signature: 'kUi2x9dKHAVNU0FYldJrxh4yo+52Kt8KU+Y19vySO/RLUkDJrOcZzUCwX6R/ekpZhkIQg=='
	}
)

Callback

In the Mobile Commerce in Africa payment method, the payment platform returns the purchase result in a callback. For the information about the callback structure, see Callbacks in Payment Page.

In this payment method, callbacks also have the account object with the number and type parameters containing information about the customer's phone number and their mobile network operator.

The following is an example of a callback body with information about a successfully completed purchase.

Figure 3. Example of the data from a successful purchase callback

{
    "project_id": 1234,
    "payment": {
        "id": "payment_47",
        "type": "purchase",
        "status": "success",
        "date": "2024-12-07T19:08:45+0000",
        "method": "mobile",
        "sum": {
            "amount": 100000,
            "currency": "GHS"
        },
        "description": ""
    },
    "customer": {
        "id": "customer_123"
    },
    "operation": {
        "id": 47,
        "type": "sale",
        "status": "success",
        "date": "2024-12-07T19:08:45+0000",
        "created_date": "2024-12-07T19:08:05+0000",
        "request_id": "1a23456bc7890de",
        "sum_initial": {
            "amount": 100000,
            "currency": "GHS"
        },
        "sum_converted": {
            "amount": 100000,
            "currency": "GHS"
        },
        "code": "0",
        "message": "Success",
        "provider": {
            "id": 12345,
            "payment_id": "123abc123-123",
            "auth_code": ""
        }
    },
    "account": {
        "number": "233123456789",
        "type": "MTN"
    },
    "signature": "U7HQO7ToISZhMPKdM4XrUKQtoYzFvoB3cs9CRd4xeYG2Q=="
}

The following is an example of a callback for a declined purchase.

Figure 4. Example of the data from a declined purchase callback

{
    "project_id": 1234,
    "payment": {
        "id": "payment_47",
        "type": "purchase",
        "status": "decline",
        "date": "2024-12-07T19:08:45+0000",
        "method": "mobile",
        "sum": {
            "amount": 100000,
            "currency": "GHS"
        },
        "description": ""
    },
    "customer": {
        "id": "customer_123"
    },
    "operation": {
        "id": 47,
        "type": "sale",
        "status": "decline",
        "date": "2024-12-07T19:08:45+0000",
        "created_date": "2024-12-07T19:08:05+0000",
        "request_id": "1a23456bc7890de",
        "sum_initial": {
            "amount": 100000,
            "currency": "GHS"
        },
        "sum_converted": {
            "amount": 100000,
            "currency": "GHS"
        },
        "code": "20000",
        "message": "General decline",
        "provider": {
            "id": 12345,
            "payment_id": "123abc123-123",
            "auth_code": ""
        }
    },
    "account": {
        "number": "233123456789",
        "type": "MTN"
    },
    "signature": "U7HQO7ToISZhMPKdM4XrUKQtoYzFvoB3cs9CRd4xeYG2Q=="
}

Purchase by using Gate

General information

To perform a purchase by using Gate with the Mobile Commerce in Africa payment method:

Send a request with all the required parameters and signature to the Monetix URL.
Accept the callback with the purchase result from the payment platform.

The following figure provides the details of the purchase processing flow in the Mobile Commerce in Africa payment method.

Figure 5. Purchase processing flow when performing a purchase by using Gate

The customer initiates a purchase in your system.
Your system sends the purchase request to the Monetix payment platform.
The payment platform sends you a response in which it acknowledges your request and provides the request validation result. (For more information about the response format, see Response structure.)
The payment platform processes the request and forwards it to the provider service.
The provider service sends the USSD message to the customer to confirm the payment.
The customer completes the purchase.
The provider service informs the payment platform about the purchase result.
The payment platform sends the callback with the payment result to your system.
Your system sends the payment result to the customer.

Request

This section provides the instructions on how to build the request for purchase with the Mobile Commerce in Africa payment method.


HTTP request method	POST
Request body format	JSON
API endpoint	/v2/payment/mobile/sale

strictly required—the parameter must be in the initial request.

✱—the parameter may not be required in some cases. Contact your account manager at Monetix for details.

Object Parameter Description

general
object
strictly required

project_id
integer
strictly required

Project ID you obtained from Monetix when integrating.

Example: 1234

payment_id
string
strictly required

Payment ID unique within your project.

Example: payment_47

signature
string
strictly required

Signature created after you've specified all the request parameters. For more information about signature generation, see Signature generation and verification.

customer
object
strictly required

id
string
strictly required

Unique ID of the customer within your project.

Example: customer_123

ip_address
string
strictly required

IP address of the customer's device.

Example: 198.51.100.47

first_name
string
strictly required

Customer's first name.

Example: John

last_name
string
strictly required

Customer's last name.

Example: Doe

email
string
strictly required

Customer's email.

Example: johndoe@example.com

account
object
strictly required

number
string
strictly required

Customer's mobile phone number. The phone number must include a country code and must be specified without punctuation or special characters.

Example: 233123456789

service_provider
string
strictly required✱

ID of the customer's mobile network operator. For the information on how to get the list of supported mobile network operators IDs, see Supported mobile network operators.

Example: MTN

payment
object
strictly required

currency
string
strictly required

Code of the payment currency in the ISO-4217 alpha-3 format.

Example: GHS

amount
integer
strictly required

Payment amount in minor currency units without any decimal point or comma except for the cases when the currency doesn't have any minor currency units.

Example: 1000.00 GHS must be sent as 100000

You can also add any other optional parameters to the purchase request, if necessary. For the list of all the parameters available in Gate, see API Reference.

Here is an example of the data from a request to initiate a purchase with the Mobile Commerce in Africa payment method:

Figure 6. Example of the purchase request body

{
    "general": {
        "project_id": 1234,
        "payment_id": "payment_47",
        "signature": "kUi2x9dKHAVNU0FYldJrxh4yo+52Kt8KU+Y19vySO/RLUkDJrOcZzUCwX6R/ekpZhkIQg=="
    },
    "customer": {
        "id": "customer_123",
        "ip_address": "198.51.100.47",
        "first_name": "John",
        "last_name": "Doe",
        "email": "johndoe@example.com"
    },
    "account": {
        "number": "233123456789",
        "service_provider": "MTN"
    },
    "payment": {
        "currency": "GHS",
        "amount": 100000
    }
}

Submitting OTP to the payment platform

In some cases the mobile network operator may send an OTP to the customer to confirm the payment. After you've received the OTP from the customer, you need to send it to the payment platform in a new request. Listed below are the instructions on how to build the request with OTP.


HTTP request method	POST
Request body format	JSON
API endpoint	/v2/payment/clarification

strictly required—the parameter must be in the initial request.

Object Parameter Description

general
object
strictly required

project_id
integer
strictly required

Project ID you obtained from Monetix when integrating.

Example: 1234

payment_id
string
strictly required

Payment ID unique within your project.

Example: payment_47

signature
string
strictly required

Signature created after you've specified all the request parameters. For more information about signature generation, see Signature generation and verification.

additional_data
object
strictly required

confirm_code
string
strictly required

The OTP the customer receives in a message from the mobile network operator.

Example: 112233

You can also add any other optional parameters to the request, if necessary. For the list of all the parameters available in Gate, see API Reference.

Here is an example of the data from the request with an OTP:

Figure 7. Example of the data from a request with an OTP

 {
	"general": {
	    "project_id": 1234,
	    "payment_id": "payment_47",
	    "signature": "kUi2x9dKHAVNU0FYldJrxh4yo+52Kt8KU+Y19vySO/RLUkDJrOcZzUCwX6R/ekpZhkIQg=="
	},
	"additional_data": {
	    "confirm_code": "112233"
	}
}

Callback

In the Mobile Commerce in Africa payment method, the payment platform returns the purchase result in a callback. For the information about the callback structure, see Callbacks in Gate.

In this payment method, callbacks also have the account object with the number and type parameters containing information about the customer's phone number and their mobile network operator.

The following is an example of a callback body with the information about a successfully completed purchase.

Figure 8. Example of the data from a successful purchase callback

{
    "project_id": 1234,
    "payment": {
        "id": "payment_47",
        "type": "purchase",
        "status": "success",
        "date": "2024-12-07T19:08:45+0000",
        "method": "mobile",
        "sum": {
            "amount": 100000,
            "currency": "GHS"
        },
        "description": ""
    },
    "customer": {
        "id": "customer_123"
    },
    "operation": {
        "id": 47,
        "type": "sale",
        "status": "success",
        "date": "2024-12-07T19:08:45+0000",
        "created_date": "2024-12-07T19:08:05+0000",
        "request_id": "1a23456bc7890de",
        "sum_initial": {
            "amount": 100000,
            "currency": "GHS"
        },
        "sum_converted": {
            "amount": 100000,
            "currency": "GHS"
        },
        "code": "0",
        "message": "Success",
        "provider": {
            "id": 12345,
            "payment_id": "123abc123-123",
            "auth_code": ""
        }
    },
    "account": {
        "number": "233123456789",
        "type": "MTN"
    },
    "signature": "U7HQO7ToISZhMPKdM4XrUKQtoYzFvoB3cs9CRd4xeYG2Q=="
}

The following is an example of a callback for a declined purchase.

Figure 9. Example of the data from a declined purchase callback

{
    "project_id": 1234,
    "payment": {
        "id": "payment_47",
        "type": "purchase",
        "status": "decline",
        "date": "2024-12-07T19:08:45+0000",
        "method": "mobile",
        "sum": {
            "amount": 100000,
            "currency": "GHS"
        },
        "description": ""
    },
    "customer": {
        "id": "customer_123"
    },
    "operation": {
        "id": 47,
        "type": "sale",
        "status": "decline",
        "date": "2024-12-07T19:08:45+0000",
        "created_date": "2024-12-07T19:08:05+0000",
        "request_id": "1a23456bc7890de",
        "sum_initial": {
            "amount": 100000,
            "currency": "GHS"
        },
        "sum_converted": {
            "amount": 100000,
            "currency": "GHS"
        },
        "code": "20000",
        "message": "General decline",
        "provider": {
            "id": 12345,
            "payment_id": "123abc123-123",
            "auth_code": ""
        }
    },
    "account": {
        "number": "233123456789",
        "type": "MTN"
    },
    "signature": "U7HQO7ToISZhMPKdM4XrUKQtoYzFvoB3cs9CRd4xeYG2Q=="
}

Mobile Commerce in Africa - Scenario 1. Purchase with confirmation via USSD

Operations support

Supported mobile network operators

Purchase by using Payment Page

General information

Request

Callback

Related topics

Purchase by using Gate

General information

Request

Submitting OTP to the payment platform

Callback

Related topics