Guide for Sending SMS Messages to Malaysia

SMS Code Provisioning Guidelines

Use international or local long codes set up for one-way sending. Manage opt-outs with a web link or customer preference center.

Malaysia also supports two-way marketing and transactional communication with short codes. Domestic enterprises must register a unique alphanumeric code that's associated with their brand or enterprise. Alphanumeric codes are used to allowlist local traffic and filter out non-registered senders. These codes can include alphanumeric characters and spaces. Local carriers must approve and allowlist all requests before SMS deployment. Local carriers deliver messages sent from approved alphanumeric codes using generic local short codes.

You can procure shared short codes with up to five allocated keywords. Banks and other financial institutions can't use shared short codes.

Begin all messages sent within Malaysia with the characters RM0. These characters count against the total number of characters in the message, and not all carriers support concatentaion. We recommend that you limit messages to 160 characters (70 for Unicode), including the mandatory RM0 prefix. All messages must also include the enterprise or brand name.

Restricted Content

You’re responsible for complying with local rules and regulations. To ensure compliance, familiarize yourself with the legislation of the local market. Failure to comply can result in service suspension, cancellation, and potential fines. Malaysia generally forbids content related, but not limited to, these products and services:

• Adult
• Alcohol
• Gambling
• Religion
• Poltical
• Tobacco

Restrict marketing communications to 8 AM to 11 PM (GMT+08:00).

Best Practices and Compliance References

Telecommunications in Malaysia are regulated by Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission.