Clickatell is a member of the Wireless Application Service Providers’ Association (WASPA) in South Africa and we’re bound by their code of conduct. WASPA was formed in 2004 as a self-regulatory body with a mandate to represent and regulate its voluntary members which provide mobile-based Value-Added Services (VAS), otherwise known as WASPs. For more information, you can view the WASPA code of conduct here.
South African SMS messaging supports binary and Unicode, and there are various standard regulations in place regarding message content, which you can see in the table below. You can also visit the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa online for more information and guidance regarding these restrictions.
Before you start sending to South Africa, please take note of the complex and important messaging and content restrictions outlined by these regulatory bodies.
We’ll make it simple for you to set up a South Africa messaging program. Our Online Sales team have a solid understanding of the country’s messaging landscape, which means they can easily guide you through the process of setting up your account. Email onlinesales@clickatell.com to get started.
| Restriction | Description |
| Time restriction | As per the Consumer Protection Act, direct marketing messages may not be sent between 8pm – 8am GMT+2. |
| SenderID | Sender ID not supported in South Africa and SenderIDs will be overwritten with a local number. |
| Opt-in | It is best practice to obtain end user consent before sending any communication from your service. Unsolicited messages will not be sent to end users. |
| Opt-out | End users must be able to withdraw or cancel their consent at any time. You must be able to receive messages in order to process the “STOP” keyword required for users to opt-out of your messaging. |
| Message content | The following types of content are not allowed:
Further content regulations to bear in mind:
Terms and conditions for Vodacom (carrier): The transmission of unsolicited value-added services (VAS) is not permitted unless:
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