China SMS registration and template guidelines

According to regulations in China, SMS messaging is restricted to Long Codes for compliance purposes. Typically, to help end-users identify message senders, signatures enclosed in Unicode【】brackets are often added at the start of a message.

Registration of templates is mandatory as any unregistered templates will be rejected. You must send an exact match of the template you have registered.

Before you begin, check the basics of China coverage, restrictions, and current regulations.

Registration requirements

The signature is one of the most important items for SMS registration in China. The signature can mirror the sender's name since only the Long Code will be displayed on the end user's handset. The signature is added by default so there is no need to add the signature in the message when sending it.

Check out the following signature restrictions:

• It is recommended for the signature to be in either Chinese characters or English letters.
• The signature can consist of 2-8 Chinese characters, with a minimum requirement of 2 characters.
• Numbers, white space, and special characters should not be included in the signature.
• The signature in English letters is unrestricted in length, but it will occupy content space, resulting in shorter characters available for other content as the name lengthens.
• [ ] and【】can be used to register the signature but [ ] will be manipulated to【】once the message is delivered to the handset.
• Generic signature, like【OTP】is not allowed. It must be related to your company.

Besides the signature, a business licence is also required for the registration.

The following items are necessary during the registration process along with a business licence:

1. Official website
2. Company (entity) name
3. Type of traffic (transactional/OTP/promotional, etc.)
4. Message content
5. Sender name (will be manipulated to random VLN) and signature

For template registration, provide all the templates that will be used; you may submit them via an Excel document. Indicate the variables that are not fixed and can be personalized depending on the recipient of the SMS. An example: "XXXX" represents your OTP, where "XXXX" is subject to change.

Once all requirements and documents are completed, you can:

• Direct customers (end customers) - start the Sender ID registration process here, and click the Request Sender button under Alphanumeric Sender ID. Provide the necessary details and submit the request.
• Wholesales/partner - contact wholesale_registrations@infobip.com and your dedicated account manager, and provide the documents along with the required sender information.