Philippines

Philippines is a major growing SMS market, but there are few restrictions we should take note of before sending A2P or Marketing SMS to Philippines. 

Is Alpha sender ID supported in Philippines?

• No. In order to use an Alpha sender ID, one is required to pre-register the Sender ID with GINOTA first.
• Standard regulations for Sender ID below:
  • Sender ID length should be within 5-11 characters.
  • No special characters allowed in Sender ID.
  • P2P Messages and International Numbers are strictly not allowed.
  • Spam and Scam messages are strictly not allowed.
  • Numeric Sender ID's are not allowed.
  • Sender ID's containing the words "TEST", “MESSAGE” and “SMS”, along with all of its permutations (e.g. TESTING, TEST123, ABCTEST, MSG, SMS, etc.) are not allowed, unless approved through the Sender ID approval form.
  • Sender ID's that portrays other networks "SMART", "SUN" along with all of its permutations (e.g. SMARTMONEY, SUNCELL, SMARTLIVE, SMARTLOAD, etc.) are not allowed.

• UPDATES!! Effective September 2020, registration of Sender IDs is required for all type of business such as Local, Banking, Finance, etc… towards Philippines Networks.  Letter of Authorization (LOA) from the brand owner itself is required in order to be approved by the operators end and enjoy the local rate charges, subject to approval from Philippines Networks.  Without registration, the SMS will be charged as Premium/International rates.

Is the DR reliable?

• Handset DLR is not supported
• DR will only be returned for the first part of concatenated messages.

Is concatenated SMS supported in Philippines?

• Yes. Long concatenated text messages are supported by the all main telcos in Philippines: Globe, Smart, DigiTel
• However, please keep the length within 600 character length. 
• Also please take note that for any concatenated messages, DR will only be sent for the first part.

Are special characters supported in Philippines?

• € is not supported by Smart or Globe,  £ is not supported by Globe, and $ is supported by both.
• Unicode is not supported on any Philippines networks.

Any content restrictions imposed?

• Adult Content - any advertisement promoting nudity/profanity/violence, if illegal under Philippine Law
• Alcohol - any advertisement promoting the use of alcohol, even if legal under Philippine Law
• Drugs - any advertisement promoting the use of drugs and other illegal substances, if illegal under Philippine Law
• Gambling - any advertisement promoting gambling, whether legal or illegal under Philippine Law
• Election - any advertisement promoting a candidate for elections, whether legal or illegal under Philippine Law
• Tobacco - any advertisement promoting the use of tobacco, even if legal under Philippine Law.

Failing to abide to the above will result in account being suspended.

Do get in touch with us at [email protected], if you require any further assistance. We will be more than happy to serve you!