Legal sending hours for promotional SMS
Several regulators set fixed hours for marketing messages, always in the recipient's local time. Transactional traffic, such as OTPs, alerts and delivery updates, isn't restricted. These are the windows in our research:
- UAE: TDRA bars marketing texts from 21:00 to 07:00 GST.
- Saudi Arabia: CST bans promotional messages from 22:00 to 09:00, and from 01:00 to 12:00 during Ramadan.
- Qatar: CRA's Spam Regulation bars direct marketing from 21:00 to 09:00.
- India: promotional SMS only between 10:00 and 21:00 IST under TCCCPR 2018.
- United States: marketing texts within the recipient's local 08:00–21:00 under the TCPA.
- Colombia: Monday–Friday 07:00–19:00 and Saturday 08:00–15:00, never on Sundays or public holidays (Law 2300 of 2023).
- South Africa (WASPA): weekdays 08:00–20:00, Saturdays 09:00–13:00, never on Sundays or public holidays.
- Kenya 07:00–19:00, Nigeria 08:00–20:00, Sri Lanka 08:00–20:00, Cambodia 08:00–21:00, Vietnam 07:00–22:00.
Time zones: send at the recipient's local time
A campaign launched at 18:00 in Dubai lands at 17:00 in Riyadh, 15:00 in London and 07:00 in Los Angeles. One batch for several countries almost always hits someone's quiet hours. Large countries are harder still: the US spans six main zones, so 09:00 in New York is 03:00 in Honolulu.
The planner checks every main zone of a country. If no single moment fits all of them, split the send by time zone, or schedule it per recipient so each message goes out at the same local hour.
Weekends in the Gulf and elsewhere
Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Egypt, Jordan and Iraq rest on Friday and Saturday. The UAE moved to a Saturday–Sunday weekend in 2022, with a short Friday for the public sector. Most other markets rest Saturday–Sunday.
Outside Colombia and South Africa, weekends aren't legally restricted, but engagement patterns change: Thursday evening in the Gulf behaves like Friday evening in Europe. Test your own audience before you lock in a weekly slot.
Ramadan send times
During Ramadan, daily routines move later: people are active after iftar and late into the night, and business hours shrink. Saudi Arabia is the only market in our data with a published Ramadan window, 12:00 to 01:00. Elsewhere the normal window still applies, so a late-evening campaign may be legal in Riyadh but blocked in Dubai after 21:00.
Avoid the minutes around iftar, keep offers short, and switch on Ramadan hours in the planner to see the Saudi window applied.
So when is the best time to send?
Legal hours are the outer limit. Within them, most B2C senders get their best response mid-morning and early evening on working days, and B2B senders mid-morning from Monday to Thursday. Avoid the last hour before a cut-off, because delivery queues can push messages past it. The data was reviewed between 29 September and 1 October 2026, and we confirm current rules with operators during onboarding.