South Africa +27
We will assign a dedicated long code to our customers, once the message is sent to the recipient, the South African carrier will overwrite that number with a local long code number prior to be delivered to the recipient. That will be the number the recipient will see on their hand set. If the recipient replies, the carrier will then route that message back to the original dedicated long code number that our customer was assigned.
Your long code cannot be contacted directly. You must first send a message to your recipient in order for them to send a message to you.
Short codes will work the same way. If a message is sent from your short code, it will be overwritten with a South African long code. Replies will then we routed back to the short code for delivery to you. The only exception is that people can send a message directly to your short code without having to reply to a message that you sent to them originally.
Regulations and Best Practices
Forbidden Contents:
- Cryptocurrency
- Drugs, cannabis & Vapes
- Adult content - including ads for sex work & prostitution
- Personal messaging
Regarding with gambling/betting, it is allowed in South Africa on the premise that opt-out’s are allowed and that it adheres to local legislation regarding marketing to a minor (under 18)
There is a Do Not Disturb (DND) registry in South Africa for Marketing traffic. Transactional Short Codes and SInch 2FA products can bypass that DND filter.
Allowed sending time for marketing programs: Monday-Friday 8am to 8pm, and Saturday from 9am – 1pm local time (GMT+2). It is not allowed to send promotional/marketing content during public holidays or on Sundays.
Opt-out / unsubscribe To meet the South African regulations, Any Marketing outbound messages must allow an opt out method to the subscriber. There are two ways to do this:
- For Sinch customers using an allocated short code/ long code ANY inbound SMS such us STOP MO will be delivered to the customer. Customer must process and assure MSISDN removal from the database.
- For customers not using an allocated short code/ long code ANY Marketing outbound messages SMS (MT SMS) must include a URL to allow the opt out to the subscriber from customer database.