OpenMarket – November 16, 2015
Are you trying to engage with customers or employees via SMS in Malaysia or Indonesia but not understanding all the various rules and regulations imposed by the mobile operators? Let me try to help you out with a few, quick guidelines:
Malaysia:
When sending A2P (Application to Person) traffic in Malaysia, official short codes should be used as the message originator, including when you send one-way mobile terminated messages (MTs). Other numeric originators such as local or international long codes or alphanumeric originators are not supported. Multipart messages are permitted on all networks apart from Digi.
When sending a message to a Malaysian MSISDN via a short code, the wording ‘RM0.00 ‘ – comprised of seven characters including the space – must be included at the start of each message to indicate to the user that the message is free to receive. Sensitive subjects should be avoided in MTs such as, gambling, politics, religion as well as any adult content, scams or other threatening/insulting content matter. For more detailed information, here is a link to the regulator’s page in Malaysia regarding the official and approved usage of the 6-series short code range: http://www.skmm.gov.my/Sectors/Celco/Mobile-Content-Services.aspx
Indonesia:
The Indonesian mobile operators permit sending MTs to their users with assigned local long codes and approved alphanumeric originators, but there are some rules around the registration of these alphas according to the business location and its use case:
1. For LOCAL Indonesian brands, alphanumeric originators can be registered with the mobile operators by signing a specific letter (in Indonesian – but don’t worry, we’ll provide you with the English translation) detailing:
- Alphanumeric originator(s) required
- Sample message content
- Opt-in details
- Ensuring the brand name is associated with the alpha requested
- Ensuring no gambling or political traffic is permitted via this originator
2. For International brands seeking to send MTs to Indonesian MSISDNs, there is no letter required but the alphanumeric originator needs to be approved by the mobile operators by submitting the request along with a detailed service description.
There are many enterprise companies today interacting with their employees and customers via SMS and if you understand the rules, you should have no problem running a very successful campaign there, too. Contact OpenMarket Sales today to get started.