--- title: "SMS sender ID checker by country" description: "Check an SMS sender ID against 77 countries' rules: length, characters, UAE AD- prefix, registration, lead time, quiet hours and the regulator. Free." canonical: "https://omnichannels.ai/tools/sender-id-checker/" language: "en" updated: "2026-10-11" publisher: "BroadNet Technologies" brand: "OmniChannels.ai" --- # SMS sender ID checker by country Canonical: https://omnichannels.ai/tools/sender-id-checker/ Language: en Publisher: OmniChannels.ai by BroadNet Technologies An SMS sender ID is the name or number shown as the sender of a message. Alphanumeric sender IDs can have up to 11 characters (letters and digits); numeric senders up to 15 digits. Many countries require pre-registration: the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Egypt approve one sender ID per company and use case, usually within 5–14 business days, and UAE promotional senders must start with “AD-”. ## How to check an SMS sender ID 1. **Pick the destination country:** Search by country name, ISO code or regulator. Rules apply where the message is delivered, not where you are. 2. **Choose the message type:** OTP and transactional senders follow different conventions from promotional ones, such as the UAE's mandatory “AD-” prefix. 3. **Type your sender ID:** Checks run as you type: length, allowed characters, spaces, script, generic words and numeric limits. Fix anything in red, or use the suggested ID. 4. **Register it before you send:** Read the registration requirement and lead time, then file the sender ID with the regulator and operators, or let us do it for you. ## What the sender ID rules are The GSM standard gives the originator address of an SMS 11 characters when it's alphanumeric, and up to 15 digits when it's a phone number in international (E.164) format. Those are hard technical limits: anything longer is truncated or rejected before the message reaches a handset. On top of that, every market adds its own policy. Some accept any brand name. Others accept only registered names, refuse numeric senders, or don't support alphanumeric sender IDs at all. In the United States, A2P SMS goes out from 10DLC numbers, toll-free numbers or short codes, and a brand name can't be the sender. - Alphanumeric: up to 11 characters; use letters A–Z and digits, and include at least one letter. - Numeric long code: up to 15 digits in international format, with no spaces or “+” in the sender itself. - Short code: usually 3–8 digits, provisioned per country and per operator. - Safe punctuation: hyphen and dot. Spaces, “&”, “_” and accented letters are stripped or refused by many operators. ## GCC and MENA: registration, AD- prefix and lead times In the Gulf, sender IDs are registered before the first message. Unregistered names are blocked or replaced with a generic sender. Our research for 2026 shows these requirements: - UAE (TDRA): registration required, one sender ID per legal entity per use case, 5–7 business days; promotional senders must use the “AD-” prefix; marketing SMS is barred from 21:00 to 07:00. - Saudi Arabia (CST): registration required with CST and operator approval, 5–10 business days; promotional messages banned from 22:00 to 09:00, and from 01:00 to 12:00 during Ramadan. Operators register promotional senders with an “-AD” suffix. - Qatar (CRA): registration required, 5–7 business days; direct marketing barred from 21:00 to 09:00. - Kuwait (CITRA), Bahrain (TRA) and Oman (TRA): one ID per use case per entity, 5–10 business days. - Egypt (NTRA): NTRA and operator approval, 7–14 business days. Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Morocco also require registration. - Arabic sender IDs are accepted across the GCC, but a name in Latin letters is the safer choice for international brands. ## Why sender IDs get rejected Most rejections come from a handful of avoidable mistakes. Fixing them before you file saves a full registration cycle, which can be one to three weeks. - More than 11 characters, or the AD- prefix pushing a long brand over the limit (keep the brand to 8 characters with “AD-”). - Generic words such as INFO, SMS, OTP, ALERT, BANK or VERIFY instead of a recognisable brand. - A name that doesn't match the company documents submitted with the application. - Special characters, emoji, spaces or mixed Arabic and Latin in one ID. - Promotional traffic sent from a transactional sender, or the reverse: most regulators ask for one sender ID per use case. ## Other markets worth knowing India requires every header to be registered on the DLT platform together with each message template; operators currently issue 6-character headers (letters for transactional and service, digits for promotional), and the network appends -P, -S, -T or -G. Australia and Ireland now run national sender ID registries, and unregistered IDs are shown as “Unverified” or “Likely SCAM”. Singapore uses the SGNIC registry (about 19 calendar days), and Spain made its CNMC alias registry mandatory on 15 September 2026. In much of Europe there's no formal registry: operators whitelist brands continuously, and numeric senders are widely supported. Use the comparison table under the tool to sort all 77 countries by lead time. ## Where this data comes from The rules come from BroadNet's own regulatory research, reviewed between 29 September and 1 October 2026, with a link to each regulator's published source. Regulators and operators change requirements without much notice, so we confirm the current rules for your sender ID during onboarding. Nothing you type in the checker is sent anywhere: it runs entirely in your browser. ## Sender ID questions ### How many characters can an SMS sender ID have? Up to 11 characters for an alphanumeric sender ID (letters and digits), and up to 15 digits for a numeric sender in international format. India's DLT operators currently issue 6-character headers, although TRAI's rules allow up to 11. ### Can I use my brand name as the SMS sender in the UAE? Yes, once it's registered. TDRA requires registration through the operators, one sender ID per legal entity per use case, which takes about 5–7 business days. Promotional senders must start with “AD-”, for example AD-MyBrand. ### What is the AD- prefix on UAE SMS? It marks promotional (marketing) senders in the UAE. TDRA makes it mandatory on promotional sender IDs, so recipients can tell ads from service messages. OTP and transactional senders don't use it. ### Does Saudi Arabia require -AD on promotional SMS? Saudi operators register promotional senders with an “-AD” suffix, for example MyBrand-AD, separately from your transactional sender. Registration needs CST and operator approval and takes about 5–10 business days. We confirm the exact format during onboarding. ### How long does sender ID registration take? It depends on the country: 5–7 business days in the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain, 5–10 in Saudi Arabia and Oman, 7–14 in Egypt and Iraq, and up to a month for Spain's CNMC registry. Some European markets need no pre-registration. ### Are OTP messages exempt from sender ID registration? No. OTP and transactional sender IDs still have to be registered where registration is required, usually as a separate use case. They're exempt from promotional quiet hours and run 24/7. ### Can I send SMS with an alphanumeric sender ID in the USA? No. The US doesn't support alphanumeric sender IDs. Business SMS goes out from registered 10DLC numbers (brand and campaign registration with The Campaign Registry, about 7–14 business days), toll-free numbers or short codes. ### Can a sender ID be in Arabic? In most Arab markets, yes: the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Egypt, Jordan and others accept Latin or Arabic sender IDs up to 11 characters. Don't mix both scripts in one ID.