China SMS Features and Restrictions China SMS Features and Restrictions

China SMS Features and Restrictions

Marcus Tan

Country Summary

Country Name China
ISO CN
Country Code 86
Region Asia
MCC (Mobile country code) 460

 

Sender ID Guidelines

Alphanumeric Sender ID

*Random numeric sender (1069* senders) will be replaced for Pre-registration traffic , Alpha Sender ID is not supported
Numeric Sender ID Numeric sender IDs are not supported unless offered by Vonage's 2-way service.
Generic Sender ID

Generic sender IDs such as INFO, SMS, NOTICE etc are prohibited.

 

Overview

China is one of the largest and fastest growing mobile markets in the world, but, it is also one of the most difficult countries to reach as many filters are in place to block messages in and out of the country. China operators and the local regulator are regularly reviewing their policies. Stricter requirements may be implemented without prior notice. Processing of registration requests can be temporary paused for a period of time without any prior notice.

Important Update for China SMS Registration:

From Apr 2025, there are further restrictions on the companies that are allowed to register:

  • For Hong Kong or Macau companies, registration is not allowed.
  • For international companies that has a Hong Kong or Macau entity, registration is not allowed.
  • For international companies that do not have a local entity, registration is not allowed.
  • For international companies that have a local entity and China business license, registration is possible. Please note that the legal representative mentioned in the license must be a China national. Information such as ID number and contact number of the legal representative will also need to be provided as this is required by the China operators when they review the registration request.

Since late Nov 2024, the China operators have further tightened up on content controls. With immediate effect, only Chinese contents with Chinese character signature can be supported. Please also take note that China uses simplified Chinese characters, so traditional Chinese characters are not supported.

For previously registered English contents, customers may observe low delivery success or complete failure as compared to their registered Chinese contents.

Example of supported message: 【宝纳技】 你的验证码是1234
Example of unsupported message: 【Vonage】Your OTP is 1234

  • Customers who have previously registered both English and Chinese contents are advised to use Chinese contents only.
  • Customers who have previously registered only English contents are advised to re-register with Chinese contents.

For existing registered Chinese contents, re-registration may also be required if customer observed a much lower delivery success than before. This is due to the China operators requiring additional information from customer to re-assess their SMS content.

Use-Case & Content Guidelines

Content Filtering & Blocking

Mobile operators in China are actively blocking and filtering numerous keywords.

Adult, religious, and especially political content are strictly prohibited and will be blocked. Here are some known filtered information, categories and keywords:

Information

  • Phone number
  • URL link

Categories

  • Dating / Social Dating Apps
  • Gaming
  • Gambling
  • Adult content
  • Immigration
  • Cryptocurrency transactions
  • Foreign bank transactions
  • Loans
  • Beauty care
  • Cosmetic surgery
  • Alcohol
  • Politics
  • Fraud
  • Questionnaire

Keywords

  • Falun Gong
  • SB
  • Tiananmen Square
Pre-Registration for Transactional Traffic*

Messages must have a signature included at the front of the message body. Only Chinese signature with Chinese content are allowed. Signatures have to be in following format:

【Signature】 message content
e.g. 【宝纳技】 你的验证码是1234

Please take note to use the unicode bracket 【】.

Message content that is not registered or has no signature will be subject to filtering by the operators, which will result in delivery failures.
Marketing Traffic*

Any marketing related messages towards China will have to go through the pre-registration* procedures and are subject to approval.

Concatenated Messages

Concatenated messages are supported for all networks.

Unicode

Unicode is supported for all networks. 

Maximum Number of Messages

To avoid spamming end users, a maximum of roughly 3 messages with the same content or 15 messages with different contents can be sent to one single number within 24 hours. Messages exceeding this limit may be blocked by local mobile operators.

 

*To initiate the Sender ID registration process, please check Global Sender ID Portal or contact your account manager or support

# The regulation is shared by our suppliers but no official communication from the China operators.

 

Additional Information

Due to a change in policy on the operator side, Vonage API no longer accepts registration of OTP and notification messages that include a URL link.

P2P traffic is prohibited.

No political, religious, unsolicited promotion, or gambling content.

There are no additional content restrictions beyond those in our Acceptable Use Policy.

 

 

 

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