In the past, developing USSD applications was a specialized activity that was typically performed by network engineers who had some level of professional training. Just see how many USSD developer jobs are listed on LinkedIn.

Over the last few years, banks and other large companies have deployed their USSD applications at great cost due to the engineering effort and equipment required. Until very recently, individuals and small organizations could never even dream of building their own USSD apps.

But now, something truly incredible has happened, with the end result being that:

• It’s suddenly very easy for developers to build USSD apps
• The utility of USSD has exceeded use cases far beyond what its designers originally imagined

In order for us to understand the incredibly unlikely sequence of events that took place to cause this, we must go all the way back, to the beginning of the mobile revolution.

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