South Sudan SMS Guide - sms-compliance -

Frequently Asked Questions

Use an SMS API like Twilio, Sinch, MessageBird, or Plivo. Ensure the recipient's number starts with +211, use a pre-registered alphanumeric sender ID, and keep the message content within standard SMS length limits.
The Mobile Country Code (MCC) for South Sudan is 659. This code is used in conjunction with the Mobile Network Code (MNC) to identify mobile network operators within the country.
South Sudan's telecommunications infrastructure primarily supports one-way A2P SMS. Businesses should design their messaging strategies around one-way communication, as recipients cannot reply to messages.
The best time to send SMS messages in South Sudan is between 8:00 AM and 8:00 PM local time (UTC+3). Avoid sending during major religious holidays and national observances.
No, short codes are not currently supported in South Sudan. Use international long codes for transactional messaging and two-factor authentication. Domestic long codes are not available.
South Sudan restricts content such as P2P traffic, adult content, religious content, political content, illegal activities, and gambling-related content. Content filtering is applied, especially by MTN.
Pre-registration is mandatory for alphanumeric sender IDs, especially for the MTN network. Generic sender IDs are discouraged and may be blocked. Consult the documentation for your chosen SMS API provider for registration details.
Concatenated (segmented) SMS is not supported. Keep messages within the standard SMS character limit (160 for GSM-7, 70 for UCS-2) to ensure successful delivery.
While South Sudan has no official Do Not Call registry, best practice is to honor and process opt-out requests immediately. Maintain your own suppression list and ensure opted-out numbers are not contacted again.
Both GSM-7 and UCS-2 encoding are supported. UCS-2 is particularly important for sending messages in local languages with extended character sets.
MMS is not directly supported. When sent, MMS messages are converted to SMS with an embedded URL link where recipients can view the multimedia content.
No, number portability is not available. Mobile numbers are tied to the original network operator.
Sending SMS to landlines is not possible and will result in delivery failure. APIs will typically return a 400 error response (code 21614) and you won't be charged.
Support both English and Arabic where possible. Consider local dialects, use appropriate date/time formats, and respect cultural sensitivities in message content.
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