Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)

1. Core Philosophy & Anti-Abuse Standards

The purpose of this Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") is to safeguard mobile subscribers in Ghana, preserve the high delivery reputation of Nopexo's routing gateways, and ensure strict compliance with telecommunications regulations.

Nopexo maintains a zero-tolerance policy for unsolicited bulk SMS (spam), phishing, financial scams, identity deception, and carrier abuse.

Any customer account or API key found to be broadcasting unauthorized or non-compliant traffic will be suspended immediately without refund.

Zero Tolerance for Smishing & Fraud

Any attempt to transmit mobile money scams, bank impersonations, or fraudulent lottery broadcasts results in instantaneous permanent suspension and criminal referral to the Cybercrime Unit of the Ghana Police Service.

2. Prior Affirmative Consent (Opt-In)

Explicit Consent Required: You must obtain explicit, verifiable affirmative consent before transmitting marketing, promotional, or informational messages to any mobile subscriber.

Proof of Consent: Senders must retain verifiable records of consent (including sign-up timestamps, IP addresses, digital forms, or physical agreement records) and produce such evidence upon request by Nopexo or the NCA.

Prohibited Contact Sourcing: You are strictly forbidden from utilizing purchased contact databases, scraped telephone directories, automated number generators, or third-party mailing lists. You may only message contacts who have directly opted in to receive messages from your organization.

Transactional vs. Marketing Messages: Transactional alerts (e.g. order confirmations, two-factor OTPs, account security notifications) must relate directly to an active customer relationship and must not contain unsolicited promotional promotions.

3. Mandatory Opt-Out & Suppression Mechanisms

Clear Unsubscribe Instructions: Every marketing, promotional, or bulk broadcast must provide a clear, simple, and free opt-out mechanism within the message body (for example: "Reply STOP to 024XXXXXXX to opt out" or "Opt-out: nopexo.link/opt").

Automated Suppression Enforcement: When a subscriber exercises their right to opt out, the sender must immediately register the phone number on their Nopexo Suppression List. Our messaging service automatically drops subsequent attempts to message suppressed numbers.

No Circumvention: Senders must never attempt to circumvent suppression lists by altering telephone number formats or switching Sender IDs.

4. Strictly Prohibited Content & Use Cases

You may not utilize Nopexo to draft, store, or transmit messages that contain, promote, or link to:

Financial Fraud & Smishing: Deceptive claims regarding mobile money reversals, fake bank balance adjustments, lottery winnings, or impersonation of telecommunication service providers.

Unauthorized Sender Spoofing: Registering or requesting Sender IDs that mimic registered trademarks, financial institutions, government ministries, or public utilities without certified legal power of attorney.

Illegal Goods & Services: Unlicensed betting, gambling, pyramid schemes, multi-level marketing (MLM), illegal pharmaceuticals, controlled substances, firearms, or adult entertainment.

Harassment & Malicious Content: Hate speech, defamation, threats of violence, intimidation, or content inciting ethnic or civil unrest.

Malicious Code & Phishing Links: Links to malicious APK downloads, credential harvesting web pages, or obfuscated URL shorteners designed to evade carrier inspection.

SMS Traffic Pumping (AIT): Artificially inflating traffic to exploit carrier termination fees, shared revenue numbers, or premium-rate destinations.

5. Permitted Broadcast Windows in Ghana

Marketing Broadcast Hours: In accordance with National Communications Authority (NCA) standards, promotional and commercial bulk SMS broadcasts in Ghana are permitted strictly during daylight and evening hours:

Monday through Saturday: 08:00 AM to 08:00 PM (GMT)

Sundays and Public Holidays: 12:00 PM to 06:00 PM (GMT)

Exemptions: Time-sensitive security verification codes (OTPs), fraud alerts, two-factor authentication, and direct user-initiated transactional responses are exempt from broadcast window limitations.

Curfew & Quiet Hours

Marketing messages submitted outside permitted broadcast windows should be scheduled using Nopexo's Campaign Scheduler for automated delivery during the next approved daylight window.

6. Political & Public Broadcast Regulations

Political Campaign Messaging: SMS campaigns intended for electoral campaigning or public political lobbying are subject to strict scrutiny:

All political Sender IDs must undergo manual verification with verified Electoral Commission registration.

Campaigns may only be transmitted during officially designated statutory election campaign periods.

The political entity or campaign committee must be unambiguously identified in the message body.

Transmission of political campaign material on national election days or during statutory campaign silences is strictly forbidden.

7. Monitoring, Enforcement & Penalties

Proactive Heuristics: Nopexo deploys automated pattern recognition, rate-limit monitors, and human staff reviews to detect suspicious transmission spikes and prohibited content keywords.

Graduated Enforcement Actions:

1. Warning & Audit: Issue of an official compliance notice requiring proof of recipient opt-in consent within 24 hours.

2. Sender ID Revocation: Immediate suspension of specific flagged Sender IDs.

3. Project Suspension: Halting of outbound queues and revocation of developer API keys.

4. Account Termination & Forfeiture: Complete termination of the organization account, forfeiture of remaining wallet balance to cover telecommunications carrier penalties, and blacklisting of associated telephone numbers and domains.

5. Law Enforcement Disclosure: Where criminal smishing, financial fraud, or national security threats are discovered, Nopexo will cooperate fully with the Ghana Police Service, NCA, and judicial authorities.

8. Reporting Abuse

If you believe you have received unsolicited spam or fraudulent SMS messages transmitted through the Nopexo platform, please forward the full message text, timestamp, sender name, and your phone number to:

Email: abuse@nopexo.com

Our Compliance and Security Operations Team investigates all abuse reports within four (4) business hours.