Telegram messaging

Telegram connects to Arino One through a bot: you create the bot with @BotFather, paste its token under Settings → Channels → Telegram, and the instance registers the webhook so every inbound message routes into the shared inbox. It's the quickest channel to activate because there's no sender registration, no template approval and no per-message carrier cost — but it only works with users who have started a conversation with your bot.

What Telegram is

Telegram is a data-based messaging app with a large global user base, particularly strong in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, parts of Southeast Asia and Latin America. Business communication happens through a bot identity that carries your brand name, username and avatar. Messages support text with formatting, images, video, documents, inline keyboards of buttons, and deep links — enough for support conversations, order updates and self-service menus.

User-initiated only

The defining constraint is that a Telegram bot cannot start a conversation. A user must message the bot, tap a deep link, or press start before you can send anything to them, and you address them by a Telegram-internal chat ID rather than a phone number. There is no list upload and no cold outreach.

In practice, that makes acquisition the work: publish your bot link on your site and in your other channels, and use a QR code or deep link so a scan opens the bot with a start command already filled in. See the QR opt-in guide for wiring a scan into a tracked opt-in on the instance. Once a user has started the bot, you can message them freely — there is no rolling reply window equivalent to WhatsApp's 24-hour rule.

Availability depends on country

Telegram doesn't rely on carrier support, so unlike SMS, RCS or Viber there's no per-operator coverage table to check. The constraints are different but just as real: Telegram is blocked or restricted in some jurisdictions, and adoption varies dramatically between markets that look similar on paper.

Confirm both that Telegram is usable in your target countries and that your audience actually uses it before you build a customer flow around it. Where it isn't a fit, keep WhatsApp or SMS as the primary channel — the same regional caution applies to Viber and RCS, which additionally depend on carrier support.

Activating Telegram on your instance

1. In Telegram, open a chat with @BotFather and run /newbot. Choose a display name and a username ending in bot.
2. Copy the bot token @BotFather returns. Treat it as a secret — anyone holding it controls the bot.
3. Set the bot's avatar, description and about text with @BotFather so the profile reflects your brand.
4. Paste the token under Settings → Channels → Telegram on your Arino One instance. The instance registers the webhook automatically.
5. Message the bot from your own Telegram account and confirm the conversation appears in the inbox and that a reply reaches you.
6. Publish the bot link, deep link or QR code wherever you want customers to start conversations.

You create the bot and connect it yourself, since you own your own Infobip and Telegram accounts. The bot must be owned by an account your business controls, so create it from a company-owned Telegram account rather than a personal one. If your instance has the $50/month Arino Core connection, Arino support can advise on or help complete the connection once you've created the bot.

Sender identity and verification

There is no sender registration, no country-by-country sender rules and no brand-verification queue for Telegram bots. Your identity is the bot's username and profile, which means the username itself is your brand asset — pick a clear one, since it can only be changed if the new username is free. Telegram does grant verification badges to some accounts, but this is discretionary, handled directly with Telegram, and not required to operate.

Consent and opt-out

Starting the bot is the opt-in; blocking the bot is the opt-out, and Telegram reports the block back so the contact is excluded from further sends automatically. Consent is per channel: a user who started your Telegram bot has not consented to SMS or email marketing, so keep those consent records separate on the contact.

Billing

Telegram doesn't charge for bot messages, so there is no metered pass-through message cost for this channel — unusual among the channels on the platform. The flat $50/month instance connection and management fee still applies as it does to every instance. See billing and plans for the full picture and channels and senders billing for channel-level costs.

Frequently asked