China SMS Features and Restrictions China SMS Features and Restrictions

China SMS Features and Restrictions

Erica Yeung

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.

 

Important Update for China SMS Registration:

Starting from late June 2023, the China Operators have tightened up on content controls. With immediate effect, SMS messages which are with non-Chinese Contents and don't include a Chinese Character Signature may be blocked without prior notification by the Operators.

 

In the meantime, we would recommend you to use Unicode signature 【Signature】for English contents or switch to Chinese Contents with a Chinese Character Signature to avoid being blocked due to this change. Please also note that re-registration is required for English contents or English signatures or changed contents. You can submit the new contents for registration via GCN or via your Vonage Account Manager or Support.

 

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. Cheap links into China will simply not work and the majority of messages will be rejected or blocked. With Vonage API's local carrier links, you can deliver messages to all Chinese networks with a very high delivery ratio.

 

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 keywords and categories:

Keywords

  • Falun Gong
  • SB
  • Tiananmen Square

Categories

  • Gambling
  • Adult content
  • Property
  • Education
  • Immigration
  • Financing
  • Loans
  • Beauty care
  • Cosmetic surgery
  • Healthcare
  • Alcohol
  • Politics
  • Fraud
Pre-Registration for Transactional Traffic*

Messages must have a signature included at the front of the message body. Signatures have to be in following format:

【Signature】 for contents in Unicode characters  e.g. 【宝纳技】 你的验证码是1234

【Vonage】Your OTP is 1234.

 

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

Vonage API also has very high quality routes for transactional content, which requires pre-registration* and is reserved for users sending more than 100K messages per month. With our high quality routes, users can register with their own signatures.
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. Registration of messages related to games, gambling, finance, loan, virtual currencies, and stock trading business are not accepted as well, even if it is OTP and notification messages.

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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