SMS Country regulations and restrictions

Malaysia

Available countries

Malaysian carriers are clamping down on SMS traffic, so it’s important to understand the regulations that are currently in place. The table below details some of these regulations. You can also visit the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission online for more information.

Note: To combat the increasing trend of online fraud, the Malaysian authorities have indicated that messages containing any of the following will be blocked: 

  1. Hyperlinks for end-users to click. 

  2. Mobile or fixed numbers provided to call back.

  3.  Requests for end-user information (such as name, card number, identification, bank account number, etc.).

All messages to Malaysia that consist of URLs and phone numbers must be whitelisted to avoid being blocked. In these cases, you are required to provide the company details (name and sample of full URL or phone number) for whitelisting.

We recommend working with a sales advisor to ensure compliance with all SMS regulations. Get in touch now and set up your messaging program with the help of our experts.

Restriction Description
DND exists No
Time restrictions

Yes

  • Marketing traffic is only allowed between 8 AM - 8 PM
International vs. local split Yes
Local traffic All traffic sent over the local bind must have the brand name inserted in the message content. Failing to do so will deem the traffic as international and will be subject to higher costs and penalties.
International traffic International traffic must be sent over the international connections and must have the brand name included.
General content restrictions
  • All customers sending SMS traffic to Malaysia must prepend their message content with the price tag "RM0" followed by their Identity/Brand/Company name (e.g., RM0 Clickatell Your OTP is 1234). The price tag RM0 and brand name will take up characters from the message content.
  • Standard messages of less than 156 characters may have the price tag RM0 automatically inserted by the carrier if not included by the sender.
  • Standard messages that exceed 156 characters will not have the price tag RM0 automatically inserted if not included by the sender and will result in failure.
  • Unicode messages of less than 66 characters may have the price tag RM0 automatically inserted if not included by the sender.
  • Unicode messages that exceed 66 characters, will not have the price tag RM0 automatically inserted if not included by the sender and will result in failure.
  • Religious, adult, racial, and gambling content are not allowed.
  • Penalties for non-compliance with any provisions of the Personal Data Protection Act may result in financial penalties or even imprisonment.
  • A numeric sender ID (from address) sending more than 10 SMS messages in quick succession will be considered flooding and may be blocked (i.e., sending more than one message per minute over a 10-minute period).
  • Messages containing any of the following will be blocked: hyperlinks for end-user to click, requests for end-user information (such as name, card number, identification, bank account number, etc.), and mobile or fixed numbers provided to call back.        
  • All content with URLs and phone numbers must be whitelisted. Contact us to whitelist the URLs and phone numbers.
  • URL shorteners cannot be whitelisted. This rule is in force as spammers tend to use shorteners heavily.
  • No URL redirects are allowed - the URL should link directly to a fully visible page.
  • All URLs to misleading pages will be rejected.
Content registration required Yes. Content/URL whitelisting information required:
  • Company name
  • Company website
  • Message content/URLs
  • Sender ID
Opt-out instructions required Yes
Sender ID regulations All sender IDs will be overwritten with local short code or long code.
Sender ID registration offered by Clickatell Not supported
Sender ID documentation required N/A
Country supports MNP Yes

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