International communication – these country-specific rules should be observed in your SMS campaign

SMS to France

All forms of sender IDs are supported in France only under strict conditions. Which of these forms you choose depends on your project.

• numeric IDs: only long, virtual numbers are allowed to avoid identity fraud. Otherwise, numerical senders will be automatically replaced by shortcodes (exception is the network operator LycaMobile, which replaces these with local numbers)
• alphanumeric IDs: depending on the network operator, these are only delivered from Monday till Saturday between 8 am and 8 pm local time. Special characters are not allowed and will either be replaced by an escape sequence or the message will be rejected altogether. Unicode is supported for alphanumeric senders, but not always reliable. If the message contains network names, it will be rejected. The network NRJ overwrites alpha values ​​with a shortcode. Long virtual numbers can successfully bypass these filters.

Also, for Two-Way-Messaging, note that outgoing messages from French long virtual numbers are throttled down by 1 SMS every 2 seconds.

Marketing content must additionally contain “STOP au 36179” at the end of the text message, so that they are not filtered. This implemented opt-out function is supposed to give the recipient the possibility to unsubscribe of your contact list at any time. The opt-out is mandatory. Likewise, marketing campaigns aren’t sent on Sundays and public holidays between 8.30 pm and 8 am local time.

If you send an international SMS to France, it’s still essential to translate it into French. The reason: Many French people don’t like getting messages in English or any other language at all.

SMS to India

India is a very complex market for international SMS campaigns and has a number of diverse restrictions.

• alphanumeric sender IDs: The pre-registration is mandatory. In addition, the ID must be 6 characters long and transmit at least 25,000 text messages per month. For registration, it’s recommended that you contact a professional provider who offers an appropriate HTTP API.

• Also typical for India is the preposition of two letters to identify sender and gateway: an ID with e.g. “VD-SMS” is transmitted by the network Vodafone and in the region Delhi. “AP-SMS” stands for the network Airtel and the region Punjabi, etc.

• Nevertheeless, a big part of international senders is overwritten to ensure delivery.
• Unregistered IDs will be replaced by a local shortcode.

In addition to the network filters in India there is an NDNC registration, in which all recipients can register. Messages from unregistered IDs to numbers noted in this Do-Not-Call list are automatically blocked. You can check recipient numbers in advance in the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India registry.

Furthermore, official time slots are set for Marketing SMS. Delivery is allowed between 9 am and 9 pm. After that, the messages will end up in a queue until the next day, but will still be charged in full.

Also spam filters are active and block all messages that are sent more than 6 times to the same number within one hour. On the other hand, recipients can rarely receive more than 200 SMS per day via incoming streams.

For political reasons, messages to the Jammu and Kashmir networks are currently blocked by the government in principle.

SMS to South Africa

South Africa is a country that is very interesting for international SMS marketing, as it is increasingly joining in on the SMS boom and still has a lot of customer potential. Here, however, international sender IDs are usually overwritten with a random, national long code to ensure delivery. Dynamic sender IDs are not possible. Thus marketing campaigns can sometimes be quite difficult to place.

Central Distributor is an independent organization called WASPA, to which all MNOs pass on their regulatory duties.

Parallel, South Africa has an explicit code of conduct on content and message types. In it, it is specified that direct marketing may take place between 8 am and 8 pm on regular days. On weekends and public holidays, direct marketing may take place between 9 am and 1 pm. Exceptions require an explicit agreement between sender and recipient.

Content restrictions concern topics that fall under the protection of minors as well as political and religious topics. Terms like “price” and “profit” should also be avoided. In addition, abuse, spam and phishing are prohibited.

Dedicated phone numbers and so-called shared numbers are generally allowed in South Africa. Unicode, concatenation of messages and DLR are supported.

SMS to the USA and Canada

For the USA and Canada, there are very specific SMS restrictions, so a direct connection is needed to ensure transmission to each of the many networks.

Sender IDs must be either a US pre-approved long number or a short code. Alphanumeric IDs are not supported. This is what you need to pay attention to depending on the context of your SMS campaign:

• For P2P, it’s best to choose long virtual numbers. These can be obtained on request from your provider. Binary formats are not supported, Unicode mostly, but not reliable in all networks. Also euro signs and some accents are problematic.
• In addition, you can send a maximum of 1 SMS per second and per virtual number to the US or Canada. This is determined by the local carriers. Those who send faster will be rejected. If you still need higher throughput, you can use multiple registered senders and split your traffic accordingly. Virtual numbers are limited to approximately 500 messages per day and will be blocked if exceeded.
• Furthermore, the operators expect bidirectional traffic. SMS with repetitive URLs and keywords are also blocked by the filters.
• For A2P and bulk SMS it’s recommended to use shortcodes, although the network operators T-Mobile and Sprint filter heavily here. Alternatively, you can send toll-free numbers to the United States via the direct HTTP API.
• However, US codes can not be used for Canada. Instead, Unicode and binary formats are supported better. Also, there are no limits on maximum throughput for shortcodes and toll free numbers.

Social invitations also seem to be quite difficult, but not officially prohibited. This is not true for financing offers: these are expressly not allowed for shortcode senders.

Summary: Our advices for international SMS campaigns