Infobip, Bayobab partner to transform SMS services in Africa

Cloud communications platform Infobip has inked a five-year deal with Bayobab, enabling the digital connectivity provider to use Infobip’s Communication Platform as a Service (CPaaS).

This partnership will allow Bayobab to manage campaign activities, APIs, and analytics, as well as deliver SMS services across Africa and beyond.

Additionally, Bayobab will benefit from Infobip’s advanced security solutions, including a top-tier firewall to protect its mobile subscribers. The collaboration aims to streamline Bayobab's SMS connectivity and reduce related administrative costs.

Bayobab is a leading connectivity and infrastructure provider in Africa which operates extensively across the continent, boasting over 115,000 km of fiber cable. Bayobab provides access to and manages, directly or indirectly, 24 subsea cables, along with over 70 Points of Presence (PoPs) across Africa, Europe, and Asia. 

“Our partnership optimizes Bayobab's SMS connectivity and routing across Africa, supporting its expansion plans. We invested heavily in our CPaaS enablement capabilities, which now serve MNOs worldwide with top-tier security and efficiency,” said Matija Ražem, Chief Commercial Telecom Officer at Infobip

"Infobip has been managing global SMS traffic since 2006. We excel in the messaging ecosystem with the latest technology, secure processes, and best practices. Extending this to large entities is a logical next step. The timing is right for more mobile operator groups to adopt a hub approach and maximize their messaging opportunities.”

Traditionally, brands had to connect individually with each Mobile Network Operator (MNO) within the MTN Group to terminate SMS. With Infobip’s CPaaS enablement platform modules, Bayobab simplifies this process so that brands and aggregators can now securely connect once and terminate traffic to MTN and other operators.

“We wanted to simplify how brands manage messaging in Africa with a single access point, high-quality service, and necessary controls. Our partnership with Infobip equips us to do this on a large scale and is crucial for tapping into Africa’s growth potential, where consumers demand messaging solutions, chat apps, and internet access,” said Kedar Gupte, Chief Mobility Business Officer at Bayobab.