Vietnam ties the sender ID to the message body
An SMS API in Vietnam has a rule most markets don't: the message body has to name you too. Since August 12, 2024, every SMS must include a brand name or application name in the body that matches the registered alphanumeric sender ID. So it's not enough to register a sender ID. The text itself must carry the matching name. And for marketing, you can only send after registering a Brand Name with the MIC, the Ministry of Information and Communication. Miss the registration, or the body rule, and your messages don't deliver.
Here's what Vietnam requires: the Brand Name, the timeline, the body rule. And how to send there.
SMSRoute's published route page for Vietnam lists wholesale routing via Viettel, Mobifone, Vinaphone from $0.015/message, with 126ms median submission and 96.6% delivered success (smsroute.cc route pages, 2026).
The MIC Brand Name system
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Brand Name registration | Mandatory for marketing, issued by MIC |
| Validity | 3 years, renewable |
| Approval time | About 5 weeks (pre-registration mandatory) |
| Body rule (since Aug 2024) | Message body must include a name matching the sender ID |
| Anti-spam law | Strict; advertising only after registration |
A marketer may only send advertising SMS after registering its Brand Name, per MIC rules, and must use that registered Brand Name. The registration is valid three years and renewable, with about a five-week approval — so, like Indonesia and Brazil, plan the lead time. The 2024 body rule is the distinctive part: the alphanumeric sender ID and a name inside the message must match. Consistency between the two is what gets you delivered. For official details, see the MIC's regulations on SMS advertising. The current regulations are published at https://www.mic.go.jp/sms/koukoku.html. This link directs to the official MIC page.
Sending compliantly
- Register a Brand Name with MIC for marketingPre-registration is mandatory. Budget about five weeks. The Brand Name lasts three years.
- Match the body to the sender IDSince August 2024, the message body must include a brand or app name matching your registered sender ID. Build this into your templates, not as an afterthought.
- Follow the anti-spam rulesVietnam's anti-spam law is strict. Advertising is only permitted after registration, with consent and opt-out. The compliance basics apply firmly here.
- Test route qualityVerify delivery to Vietnamese SIMs before scaling, per the seed-SIM method. Carrier filtering is active.
The body-matches-sender-ID rule is easy to overlook and it breaks delivery. A message from a registered sender ID that doesn't repeat the name in the body can fail the 2024 requirement. Template your Vietnamese messages so the name appears in both places.
Sending to Vietnam in practice
SMSRoute is a no-KYC SMS API with crypto billing (BTC, ETH, USDT, XMR, LTC, and SOL) serving the international route to Vietnam, with live pricing on the send SMS to Vietnam page. For transactional and OTP traffic, the international route delivers to Vietnamese users. Put your app name in the message body, which also aligns with Vietnam's body-naming expectation, and keep it identifiable.
Register the Brand Name early, match your body to the sender ID, respect the strict anti-spam law, and Vietnam delivers. It's a plan-ahead market with one genuinely unusual rule. So account for both the timeline and the body requirement from the start. For how this market fits the wider picture, see the global SMS compliance map.
Related reading
FAQ
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