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Saudi Arabia: SMS delivery facts

SMS to Saudi Arabia uses calling code +966. Alphanumeric sender IDs require pre-registration under the GCC-prereg regime; unregistered senders are commonly blocked or overridden. Arabic content employs the UCS-2 charset, yielding 70-character single segments or 67 when concatenated.

+966 XXX XXX XXXcountry code (Saudi Arabia)national subscriber numberE.164 caps the whole string at 15 digits - the example digits are placeholders(national number length varies by market); only the +966 prefix is Saudi Arabia-specific
Country calling code+966 (ITU-T E.164 assigned country codes, retrieved 2026-07-27)
E.164 format+966 followed by the national subscriber number, no leading trunk zero, 15 digits maximum overall (ITU-T E.164)
Alphanumeric sender IDpre registration (per CITC Saudi Arabia sender ID registration requirement, retrieved 2026-07-26)
Registration regimeGCC-prereg
Dominant language(s)Arabic
Native-text charsetUCS-2 — 70 characters per single SMS, 67 per concatenated segment (GSM 03.38 default alphabet vs script analysis, retrieved 2026-07-27)
Published smsroute rateUSD 0.055 per message, dated snapshot (source, retrieved 2026-07-27). Current rate and send path: rate card for Saudi Arabia

Sender-ID rules

Alphanumeric sender IDs require pre-registration with local operators; unregistered senders are commonly blocked or overridden. (per CITC Saudi Arabia sender ID registration requirement, verified 2026-07-26)

Alphanumeric sender IDs fall under the GCC-prereg regime and must be pre-registered with local operators. Unregistered senders are commonly blocked or overridden. With Arabic as the primary language, UCS-2 encoding applies and constrains messages to 70 characters single or 67 concatenated.

Character set and message length

Native Arabic text is classed as UCS-2 here: 70 characters fit a single SMS and 67 per segment once a message is concatenated.

UCS-2 (70 chars/segment, 67 concatenated)1 segment = 70 chars2 segments = 134 chars3 segments = 201 chars
Cost per message at the published rate (0.055 USD, 2026-07-27)1 segment = $0.0552 segments = $0.113 segments = $0.165Multipart messages are commonly billed per segment - the segment ruler above shows where each boundary falls.

To count segments for a concrete message, use the UDH segment surgeon; to compare all 40 countries side by side, the country requirements explorer reads the same open dataset (CC-BY 4.0).

Every figure above is maintained by SMSRoute guides with a named source and retrieval date - the machine-readable copy for Saudi Arabia lives in api/v2/countries.json (CC-BY), field-level provenance included.

Frequently asked

What is the calling code and published SMS rate for Saudi Arabia?
The calling code is +966. The published rate is 0.055 USD (retrieved 2026-07-27).
Are alphanumeric sender IDs allowed for SMS to Saudi Arabia?
Alphanumeric sender IDs require pre-registration with local operators under the GCC-prereg regime; unregistered senders are commonly blocked or overridden.
What charset and segment lengths apply to SMS in Saudi Arabia?
The charset class is UCS-2, supporting 70 characters in a single segment and 67 characters per segment when concatenated.
How do I test SMS delivery to Saudi Arabia without a local SIM?
Use a delivery-testing service that sends to real local +966 numbers. SMSRoute accounts include free test credits so you can confirm delivery without holding a Saudi SIM.
Can I use my company name as the sender for SMS to Saudi Arabia?
Alphanumeric sender IDs (such as a company name) require pre-registration with local operators under Saudi Arabia’s GCC-prereg rules; unregistered senders are commonly blocked or overridden.

Related

Facts on this page are dated snapshots with named sources; rates change — the linked rate card is authoritative. Corrections: ops@smsroute.cc. Last verified 2026-07-27.