There are two types of USSD services you can create: static or dynamic. The main difference between these two: static services contain information that doesn’t change, while dynamic services have a more complex back end, where they get updated information, like an airtime balance, or bank account details.

Static services can be created even by people who don’t have programming skills. This is possible with our XML based API. Developing static USSD service is like creating a website in HTML. You will need to make XML files, which will instruct us what and how to show to users on their mobile phones. Then you will host these files and make them accessible via Internet protocols (HTTP, HTTPS).

“Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language that defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format which is both human-readable and machine-readable. The design goals of XML emphasize simplicity, generality and usability across the Internet. It is a textual data format with strong support via Unicode for different human languages. Although the design of XML focuses on documents, it is widely used for the representation of arbitrary data structures such as those used in web services.”

When you create a static USSD service on Global USSD, its logic is realized in the form of a website. Each page of the website is one page of the service on the mobile device. Website pages are written in the XML format. Below is an example of static USSD service. Since the service is created as a website, we describe the start page of the service in the file named index.xml. Thus, it will be automatically defined as the first page of the website.

On the phone this service will look as follows:

By learning the basics of XML, you can use our manual and create your own static service, then deliver it to subscribers with our Global USSD account. Our API allows combining static and dynamic services. We’ll talk about it in the future.

Sign up for our account now and stay tuned for more information.