In short
- Sends: OTP, alerts and notifications, service updates, mass notifications, promotional campaigns, loyalty messages, announcements and offers.
- Connects: web platform for your team; REST API, SMPP and SOAP for your systems.
- Identifies you: under your registered sender name; Interkey handles registration during onboarding.
- Reports: per-message delivery receipts, exportable reports and webhook delivery callbacks.
- Protects: fraud protection, country blocking, spending limits, two-factor login, IP-whitelisted or VPN API access.
- Priced: by quote, on volume and traffic type.
How an SMS gateway works
An SMS gateway sits between the systems that create messages and the mobile networks that deliver them. With Digital Connect, a message follows four steps:
- Request: your team schedules a campaign in the web platform, or your application calls the API with the recipient, the text and your sender name.
- Controls: the controls set for your account apply, such as spending limits and country blocking.
- Delivery: the message is passed to the mobile network and on to the customer's phone, showing your sender name.
- Receipt: a delivery receipt comes back for that message, and appears in your reports or reaches your system through a webhook callback.
What you can send through Digital Connect
| Traffic type | Typical messages | Learn more |
|---|---|---|
| OTP and verification | Login codes, transaction confirmation, password reset, two-factor authentication | OTP SMS |
| Transactional and service | Account alerts, order and delivery updates, appointment reminders, service updates, mass notifications | Transactional SMS |
| Promotional and marketing | Campaigns, loyalty and engagement, announcements and offers | SMS marketing and promotional SMS · Bulk SMS |
OTP traffic and marketing traffic are priced separately because they are different products, with different rules.
Two ways to send
| Web platform | API | |
|---|---|---|
| Who uses it | Marketing, customer service and operations teams | Developers and system owners |
| Typical use | Campaigns, announcements, scheduled sends | OTP, alerts and notifications triggered by your systems |
| What it offers | Contact list management, approved templates, campaign scheduling, delivery reports | REST API for application traffic; SMPP for sustained high volume; SOAP where an existing business system requires it; webhook delivery callbacks |
| Access | Two-factor login with an email verification code; admin and user permission levels | Access limited to whitelisted IP addresses or a VPN connection |
Online SMS platform · Planning your SMS integration · SMPP vs REST SMS API
Your sender name, registered before launch
Customers see your sender name, not a number. Saudi operators filter bulk messages whose sender name is not authorised, so registration comes first. Interkey handles sender-name registration during onboarding and follows it up through approval. You provide your commercial registration, a brand-owner authorisation if the brand and the legal entity differ, the traffic types you will send and sample messages. We do not promise a fixed timeline, because it depends on the entity, the name and the traffic type.
Send SMS under your company name
Visibility and control after every send
- Per-message delivery receipts: know whether each OTP, alert or campaign message was delivered.
- Reporting: delivery and performance reports in the platform, with export.
- Webhook delivery callbacks: delivery status sent to your own system.
- Fraud protection: built into your account.
- Country blocking: choose the countries your account must not send to.
- Spending limits: cap what the account can spend. Limits and blocked countries are set for your account during onboarding.
- Approved templates: message templates are approved by your team and by Interkey before use.
Arabic messages and message length
An SMS written in the GSM-7 alphabet fits 160 characters, or 153 per part when the message is longer. Arabic text uses Unicode (UCS-2): 70 characters in one SMS, or 67 per part. A 140-character Arabic message is therefore sent as three parts. Check your templates with the SMS segment calculator before you plan volumes.
Rules your traffic must follow
CST's "Regulations for Curbing SPAM Messages & Calls" apply to every sender. The points that change how you use a gateway:
- Promotional messages need explicit consent; consent hidden in a privacy policy or a service contract does not count.
- Promotional messages start out blocked for each recipient until the recipient chooses to receive them, in general or from specific sender names.
- Recipients can opt out at any time, and the sender must stop within 24 hours.
- Promotional and awareness messages may not be sent from 10:00 pm to 9:00 am (during Ramadan, from 1:00 am to 12:00 noon).
- Promotional sender names carry the suffix "-AD".
- An OTP message must say why the code was sent.
Saudi SMS compliance guide · How to choose an SMS provider in Saudi Arabia
Pricing
Digital Connect is priced by quote. The quote is built on your monthly volume and your traffic types; OTP and marketing traffic are priced separately. Message length matters too, because a long Arabic message is billed as several parts.
Who Digital Connect suits
- Saudi banks, fintech and payment companies sending OTP and account alerts.
- Retailers and e-commerce businesses sending order updates and offers.
- Healthcare providers sending appointment reminders.
- Government entities sending service notices.
- Any Saudi organisation that needs a registered sender name, an API and delivery receipts.
It is not the right fit if your traffic goes almost entirely to numbers outside Saudi Arabia, or if you send only a few hundred messages a month.
Interkey holds CST's permit to provide short message services (SMS). Support comes from Interkey's team in Riyadh, in Arabic and English. Interkey was founded in 1999 and has worked in SMS and value-added services since 2004.
Questions about the SMS gateway
What is an SMS gateway?
A service that takes messages from your team or your systems and passes them to mobile networks for delivery to customers' phones, then reports back whether each message was delivered.
Can we send without writing code?
Yes. Your team can send and schedule campaigns from the web platform. The API is there when your systems need to send automatically.
Which API should our developers use?
REST suits application traffic such as OTP and notifications. SMPP suits sustained high-volume sending. SOAP is available where an existing business system requires it.
Do we get delivery reports?
Yes. Each message returns a delivery receipt, visible in the platform reports and available to your systems through webhook callbacks.
Can we stop messages going to other countries?
Yes. Country blocking and spending limits are set for your account during onboarding.