In short
- Consent: explicit, and provable by you. Consent buried in a privacy policy does not count.
- Sender name: promotional names carry "-AD"; promotional SMS may not come from a mobile number.
- Hours: no promotional sending from 10:00 pm to 9:00 am (Ramadan: 1:00 am to 12:00 noon).
- Opt-out: at any time; stop within 24 hours and confirm.
- On Digital Connect: campaign scheduling, approved templates, contact lists, delivery receipts and spending limits; marketing traffic quoted separately from OTP.
SMS marketing rules in Saudi Arabia
The rules below come from CST's "Regulations for Curbing SPAM Messages & Calls" (version three, October 2022, approved by CST decision 493/1444). Clause numbers are given so your legal or compliance team can check the source.
| Rule | What it means for your campaign | Clause |
|---|---|---|
| Explicit consent | Each recipient must expressly agree to receive promotional messages. Consent placed inside a privacy policy or a service contract does not count, and the sender must be able to prove consent. | 4.6.6.1 |
| Opt-out at any time | Recipients can ask to stop through traditional or electronic channels. Stop within 24 hours and send a confirmation. | 4.6.6.2 – 4.6.6.4 |
| Restricted hours | No promotional or awareness messages from 10:00 pm to 9:00 am. During Ramadan, the restricted window is 1:00 am to 12:00 noon, Saudi time. | 4.4.10, 4.6.8 |
| "-AD" sender names | The suffix "-AD" is added to every sender name classified as promotional. | 4.3.10 |
| Recipient preferences | Operators must let users block or allow promotional messages, in general or from specific sender names; promotional messages start out blocked until the recipient chooses to receive them. | 4.4.8 |
| No mobile numbers | Promotional SMS may not be sent from a mobile phone number. | 4.6.9 |
| No system-to-system campaigns | Senders must not send promotional campaign messages from their own systems to the SMS provider's systems; providers filter repeated system-to-system messages. | 4.6.5, 4.5.3 |
| Bulk checks | Providers must pause identical messages sent to more than 50 numbers within one minute while content and links are checked. Government entities and banks are exempt. | 4.5.1 |
Two practical consequences: tell customers who opt in which sender name your offers will come from, and leave time before a large launch for content and link checks.
CST: Regulations for Curbing SPAM Messages and Calls · Saudi SMS compliance guide
Campaigns that suit SMS
- Offers and seasonal sales: short, time-bound offers with a clear end date.
- Loyalty and engagement: points balances, member offers and reminders to customers who opted in.
- Announcements: a new branch, a new product or a change to opening hours.
- Event invitations: dates, location and how to register.
Keep each message to one offer and one action. Say who it is from, what the offer is, when it ends and how to stop receiving offers.
Promotional, bulk or transactional?
| If your message is… | It is… | Go to |
|---|---|---|
| An offer, a campaign or an announcement meant to sell | Promotional: consent, "-AD" name and restricted hours apply | This page |
| Any message sent to a large list at once | Bulk sending: planning lists, timing and reporting at volume | Bulk SMS |
| An order update, reminder or account alert about the customer's own service | Transactional (service) | Transactional SMS |
| A one-time code | OTP | OTP SMS |
Not sure where a message falls? Transactional vs promotional SMS walks through the edge cases.
Running a campaign on Digital Connect
- Register your promotional sender name. Interkey handles sender-name registration during onboarding and follows it up through approval. You provide your commercial registration, a brand-owner authorisation if needed, and sample messages.
- Add your consented contacts. Manage contact lists in the web platform. Keep your consent records on your side; the regulations place the burden of proof on the sender.
- Prepare the template. Message templates are approved by your team and by Interkey before use. Check the length: Arabic text fits 70 characters in one SMS, or 67 per part when longer.
- Schedule inside the permitted hours. Use campaign scheduling so messages go out between 9:00 am and 10:00 pm, or within the Ramadan window.
- Send and read the results. Each message returns a delivery receipt; reports show delivery and performance, and you can export them.
- Clean the list. Remove opt-outs within 24 hours and drop numbers that keep failing before the next campaign.
Spending limits, set for your account during onboarding, cap what a campaign can cost.
Online SMS platform · Send SMS under your company name
What a promotional campaign costs
Digital Connect is priced by quote. Marketing traffic and OTP traffic are priced separately, so send us your expected monthly campaign volume on its own. Arabic campaign messages longer than 70 characters are sent, and billed, as several parts; check yours with the SMS segment calculator.
Who this suits
Retailers and e-commerce businesses, service companies, and any Saudi organisation running regular offers or loyalty programmes to customers who opted in. If your messages go almost entirely to numbers outside Saudi Arabia, or you send only a few hundred messages a month, Digital Connect is not the right fit.
Interkey holds CST's permit to provide short message services (SMS). Support comes from Interkey's team in Riyadh, in Arabic and English.
Questions about promotional SMS
Is SMS marketing allowed in Saudi Arabia?
Yes, for private entities, within CST's rules: explicit consent, a registered sender name with the "-AD" suffix, a working opt-out and the restricted hours.
What does "-AD" in a sender name mean?
It marks the sender name as promotional. CST's regulations add the suffix to every sender name classified as promotional.
What time can we send promotional SMS?
From 9:00 am to 10:00 pm. Promotional and awareness messages are not allowed from 10:00 pm to 9:00 am; during Ramadan the restricted window is 1:00 am to 12:00 noon, Saudi time.
A customer bought from us before. Can we send them offers?
Only with explicit consent to receive promotional messages. A past purchase, or consent written into your terms or privacy policy, does not count under the regulations.
Can we send promotional campaigns from our own system through the API?
CST's anti-spam regulations tell senders not to send promotional campaign messages from their own systems to the SMS provider's systems (clause 4.6.5). Use the API for OTP and service messages, and run promotional campaigns from the web platform. Ask us how this applies to your setup.
How fast must we act on an opt-out?
Within 24 hours of the request, with a confirmation to the customer.