United Arab Emirates

The key details for mobile messaging in the United Arab Emirates are below. We have full one-way reach to all mobile operators in this region. For a datasheet that contains more information, such as best practices and the proportion of subscribers on each mobile operator, please contact us.

See help for an explanation of each field.

Region

Middle East

Dialing Code

971

1-way

Yes

2-way

Short Code Only

2-way Setup Time

Primary Character Encoding

GSM

Max Characters for Single-part message

160 or 70 Unicode

Multi-part messages

Yes

Delivery Receipts

Yes

Mobile Number Portability

Yes

Alphanumeric Originator maintained on 1-way

Yes, when Registered

Alphanumeric Originator Registration required

Yes

Short Code maintained on 1-way

Overwritten

Local Long Code maintained on 1-way

Overwritten

International Long Code maintained on 1-way

Overwritten

* Notes

The mobile operators often filter out or block message sent with 1-way originators. We recommend pre-registering an alpha originator, or using a short code (which OpenMarket can provide).

Guidance / Restrictions

Opt-in and opt-out required for marketing messages, which a short code required for opt-out messages. In accordance with the regulations from the Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRA), each SMS must include an opt-out statement, such as "To opt out SMS NO to XXXX" (English) or "SMS NO XXXX" (Arabic). This uses 24 characters in English and 17 characters in Arabic. This means that the number of characters available for a single SMS message is to 136 (English) or 53 (Arabic).