As the mobile boom in Africa continues to push boundaries, mobile-based services are revealing unsuspected potential. This is particularly true of the many services powered by SMS (Short Message Service) across the continent. In Africa, SMS remains one of the most effective and affordable ways to solve everyday problems through mobile technology.
With this post, I wanted to present a set of free and open-source tools that make it possible to design SMS applications and services with limited resources — in a frugal way, doing more with less. These open tools have helped young innovators take their ideas out of the drawer and move from concept to prototype, embracing experimentation. If it was possible for them, it can also be possible for you — because knowledge and know-how are meant to be shared and turned into action.
Tools for Setting Up SMS Servers
- Kannel – A free and open-source WAP and SMS gateway.
- Gammu-SMSD – A service for sending and receiving SMS messages in bulk.
- Gammu / LibGammu – An open-source mobile phone management software.
- SMSServer Tools 3 – A free and open-source SMS gateway.
- RaspiSMS – A system that allows SMS management from a computer via the internet.
- PlaySMS – A free and open-source web application for SMS management.
MS Applications Based on SMS Servers
- RapidSMS – A free and open-source Django framework for building SMS applications.
- Kalkun – A web-based SMS management application.
- Wvdial – A tool to connect to the internet using a 56K modem, phone, or 3G key.
- Wammu – A graphical application to manage your phone’s contacts, tasks, calendar, and messages.
With these open-source tools, anyone can bring their SMS service idea to life — from home or from a small community space — with minimal means, and by adapting the source code to address specific local needs.
The challenge is to redefine the contours of innovation driven by SMS applications in Africa, in an environment marked by rapidly evolving user habits and often poorly expressed community needs.
This is the field of uncertainty, of imprecision, in a world driven by innovative uses — but also by the unpredictable and the unstable. Our communities can no longer afford innovation at uncontrolled costs.
Innovation in Africa today must be both affordable and sustainable, human-centered and adapted to local realities. SMS technology remains an untapped goldmine for accelerating mobile adoption and digital transformation.
Experimentation through open technologies is a chance worth seizing.
So take your ideas out of the drawer — and let’s meet in the Free and Open Source Third-Places (TiLiOS) to bring them to life.
Florent Youzan