Terms of Service

1. Who these terms are between

These terms are an agreement between Ontech Solutions Limited, of Plot No. 25996, Kwacha Road, Olympia Park, Lusaka, Zambia (“Ontech”, “we”, “us”), and the person or organisation that registers for an account (“you”, “the Developer”).

They apply from the moment you create an account or use the service, whichever is first. If you are agreeing on behalf of an organisation, you confirm you are authorised to bind it.

2. The service

Ontech operates a USSD gateway connected to Airtel Zambia, MTN Zambia and Zamtel. The service routes USSD sessions dialled by mobile subscribers to an HTTPS endpoint that you operate, and returns your responses to the subscriber’s handset.

We provide the routing, the operator interconnects, a developer portal with logs and analytics, a browser-based test sandbox, and API credentials. You provide and are responsible for the service behind your endpoint — its menus, its logic, its availability, and anything it tells or does for a subscriber.

3. Accounts

• You must give accurate registration details and keep them current.
• You are responsible for keeping your password, API key and API secret confidential, and for everything done using them.
• Tell us promptly at info@ontech.co.zm if you believe your credentials have been compromised. We can reissue credentials from the portal.
• One account may hold several shortcodes. Accounts are not transferable without our written agreement.

4. Shortcodes

Shortcodes take the form *388*N#, a sub-string of the shared *388# national code.

• Allocation is automatic on email verification, subject to availability. Two-digit sub-strings are limited and are allocated at our discretion.
• Sub-strings are recycled. A code released by a previous holder may be re-allocated to you, and a code you release may later be allocated to someone else. Subscribers who saved an old code may therefore reach a different service. You must not represent an allocated sub-string as permanently or exclusively yours in any marketing.
• Your portal shows only traffic from the date the code was allocated to you. We deliberately withhold any earlier traffic, because it belongs to the previous holder.
• Dedicated codes (your own *XYZ#) are a separate arrangement requiring ZICTA and operator provisioning, and are not covered by these self-service terms.

5. Free proof of concept

On verifying your email you receive, at no charge: a live shortcode, API credentials, sandbox access, and a proof of concept of 5 days and 120 sessions, whichever is exhausted first.

The proof of concept is provided as-is for evaluation. It carries no service level, and we may vary or withdraw it for future registrations at any time without affecting a POC already granted.

6. Plans, pricing and payment

After the proof of concept, continued service requires a paid plan:

• All prices are exclusive of VAT. VAT at the prevailing rate (currently 16%) is added at payment. The portal shows the exact amount payable before you confirm.
• Payment is by mobile money (Airtel, MTN or Zamtel) in Zambian Kwacha, in advance of each cycle.
• Higher volumes are billed per session under separate volume terms; see Pricing or contact us.
• We may change prices on 30 days’ notice by email to your registered address. A change never affects a cycle already paid for.

7. Sessions and what is counted

A session is one USSD conversation with one subscriber, from the moment they dial your shortcode until the session ends, however many screens it contains.

• Sessions do not roll over. Each renewal zeroes the balance and grants that plan’s sessions afresh. A plan is an allowance for a cycle, not a stored balance, and unused sessions have no cash value.
• Testing is free. Sandbox and simulator traffic is marked as test traffic and never counts against your allowance, your billing, or your service levels.
• Sessions are counted in the cycle in which they started.
• Our records of session counts are the ones used for billing. If you believe they are wrong, raise it within 30 days and we will investigate.

8. Suspension and reactivation

Your shortcode is suspended automatically when either your session allowance or your cycle expires. Suspension means subscribers dialling your code can no longer reach your service.

• We warn you by SMS, email and webhook as your allowance runs low and as your cycle nears its end. Keeping your contact details current is your responsibility.
• Service is restored within minutes of a payment being confirmed.
• We may also suspend immediately, without notice, where we reasonably believe clause 10 has been breached, or where an operator or regulator requires it.

9. Availability and support

We aim to keep the gateway continuously available and publish live success rates and latency to your portal. We do not, in these self-service terms, commit to a contractual uptime figure or to service credits.

Support is by email at info@ontech.co.zm. Enterprise support terms and a contractual SLA are available separately.

10. Your obligations

You must not use the service to:

• break any Zambian law, or any ZICTA or operator rule that applies to USSD;
• defraud, deceive or impersonate — including any menu that misrepresents who the subscriber is dealing with, or induces a payment under false pretences;
• send unsolicited marketing, or collect personal data without a lawful basis and a clear notice to the subscriber;
• handle payment card data, or ask a subscriber for a PIN, password or one-time code belonging to another service;
• place unreasonable load on the gateway, or attempt to circumvent your session allowance, another customer’s data, or our access controls.

You are responsible for obtaining any licence, registration or approval your own service requires — for example financial services or lottery approvals.

11. Subscriber data

When a subscriber uses your service, we process their mobile number, the keys they press and the responses your service returns, in order to route the session and to provide you with logs and analytics.

• In respect of your service’s subscribers, you are the data controller and we are a processor acting on your instructions.
• Both parties must comply with the Data Protection Act, 2021 (Zambia).
• Subscriber numbers are masked in your portal and exports (for example 260979****350). If your service requires full numbers, it must capture them itself, with its own lawful basis and notice.
• You must tell your subscribers what you collect and why, and honour their rights of access and erasure. We will assist with requests routed to us.
• Data is hosted in Zambia. We will tell you before that changes.

12. Logs and retention

We keep session logs to operate the gateway, bill accurately, investigate faults and meet regulatory obligations. We may use aggregated, de-identified data to improve the service and report on platform performance.

13. Intellectual property

We keep all rights in the gateway, the portal, our documentation and our brand. You keep all rights in your service, your menus and your content. You may use the Ontech name and logo to state that you are built on Ontech USSD, in line with our published brand guidelines, and must stop if we ask.

14. Liability

Nothing in these terms excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded, including for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud.

Subject to that, we are not liable for loss of profit, revenue, business, goodwill, or data, or for indirect or consequential loss; and our total liability in any 12-month period is limited to the charges you paid us in the preceding 12 months.

We are not liable for failures of your endpoint, for outages caused by a mobile operator, or for anything your service does to a subscriber.

15. Termination

• You may close your account at any time from the portal or by writing to us. Cycles already paid for are not refunded (see clause 6).
• We may terminate on 30 days’ notice, or immediately for a material breach that is not remedied within 14 days of us asking, or immediately where clause 10 is breached.
• On termination your shortcode is released and returns to the pool for re-allocation, and your access to the portal ends. Tell your subscribers before you close an account they rely on.
• You may export your logs from the portal before closing. We are not obliged to retain your data after termination.

16. Changes to these terms

We may change these terms. Material changes take effect 30 days after we email your registered address and publish the new version here. Continuing to use the service after that means you accept the change. Every version is dated and numbered at the top of this page.

17. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of Zambia, and the courts of Zambia have exclusive jurisdiction. We will each try in good faith to resolve a dispute by discussion before starting proceedings.

18. Contact

Ontech Solutions Limited
Plot No. 25996, Kwacha Road, Olympia Park, Lusaka, Zambia
info@ontech.co.zm · +260 211 448 275