---
title: "How many characters can an Arabic SMS have?"
description: "How many characters can an Arabic SMS have? A single Arabic SMS holds 70 characters, or 67 per segment once split. See the 3GPP math and how to cut costs."
canonical: "https://omnichannels.ai/answers/arabic-sms-character-limit/"
language: "en"
updated: "2026-10-10"
publisher: "BroadNet Technologies"
brand: "OmniChannels.ai"
---

# How many characters can an Arabic SMS have?

Canonical: https://omnichannels.ai/answers/arabic-sms-character-limit/
Language: en
Publisher: OmniChannels.ai by BroadNet Technologies

**Short answer:** An Arabic SMS holds up to 70 characters in a single message because Arabic is sent in UCS-2 encoding. Longer Arabic messages are split into segments of 67 characters each, as every segment carries a reassembly header. An English GSM-7 message, by comparison, holds 160 characters, or 153 per segment.

## Why is the Arabic limit lower than English?

Every SMS carries up to 140 octets of user data (3GPP TS 23.040). GSM-7 packs 7-bit characters, so 160 fit. Arabic is outside the GSM-7 alphabet, so the message uses UCS-2, at 2 octets per character: 140 / 2 = 70 characters.

| Encoding | Used for | Single SMS | Per segment in a long SMS |
|---|---|---|---|
| GSM-7 | Basic Latin letters, digits, common punctuation | 160 characters | 153 characters |
| UCS-2 | Arabic, emoji, other non-GSM characters | 70 characters | 67 characters |

## How many segments will my Arabic message use?

Divide the character count by 67 once you pass 70, and round up. Each segment is usually billed as one SMS.

| Arabic characters | Segments |
|---|---|
| 1 to 70 | 1 |
| 71 to 134 | 2 |
| 135 to 201 | 3 |
| 202 to 268 | 4 |

## Common mistakes with Arabic SMS

- Mixing English and Arabic in one message: the whole message becomes UCS-2, so the English text also counts against the 70 limit.
- Adding emoji: most are sent as two UCS-2 units, so each uses two character slots.
- Writing long Arabic links and signatures that push a message into an extra segment.

1. Draft the Arabic text.
2. Paste it into a character counter to see encoding and segments.
3. Shorten until it fits the segment count you budgeted.
4. Send English and Arabic versions as separate messages if you need both.

## Official sources

- [3GPP TS 23.038 — Alphabets and language-specific information](https://portal.3gpp.org/desktopmodules/Specifications/SpecificationDetails.aspx?specificationId=745)
- [3GPP TS 23.040 — Technical realization of the Short Message Service (SMS)](https://portal.3gpp.org/desktopmodules/Specifications/SpecificationDetails.aspx?specificationId=747)

## Related questions

- https://omnichannels.ai/answers/why-sms-split-into-parts/
- https://omnichannels.ai/answers/bulk-sms-cost/
- https://omnichannels.ai/answers/otp-sms-not-received/

Updated: 2026-10-10