# Iraq A2P SMS guide for 2026: CMC licensing, sender IDs, the Korek shutdown and Arabic and Kurdish encoding

> Bulk and A2P SMS in Iraq is a value-added service licensed by the Communications and Media Commission (CMC). Its March 2026 VAS regulation requires sender IDs to be notified to the regulator, prior consent and a free one-step opt-out — and in September 2026 the CMC told Korek subscribers to move their verification codes to another network. Here is what the official texts say and what it means for delivery.

- Canonical URL: https://www.broadnet.me/blog/iraq-a2p-sms-guide-2026
- Language: en
- Last updated: 2026-10-20
- Publisher: BroadNet (https://www.broadnet.me)

- Published: 2026-10-10
- Author: BroadNet Regulatory Affairs

In Iraq, A2P and bulk SMS is regulated by the Communications and Media Commission (CMC) as a value-added service (VAS). The CMC's March 2026 VAS regulation requires a CMC licence for companies that sell bulk SMS, requires each client's sender ID to be notified to the CMC before the client is signed, and requires prior consent and a free one-step opt-out. The CMC is also shutting down Korek Telecom's network, which changes how OTP traffic should be planned. BroadNet routes Iraqi traffic over direct operator connections; this guide sets out what the official texts say.

> This guide summarises public regulatory texts and notices as of 10 October 2026. It is general information, not legal advice — confirm your obligations with counsel or the CMC before relying on it.

## Key takeaways

- The CMC is the federal telecoms, media and IT regulator, under Order No. 65 of 2004.
- Bulk SMS is a value-added service: selling it needs a one-year, renewable CMC VAS licence, and operating without one costs IQD 250 million plus blacklisting.
- The licensee must notify the CMC of each client's sender ID before signing the client, and may not pass international messages into Iraq without the CMC's written approval.
- Prior consent is required and must cover one specific type of content; opt-out must be free and one step, by SMS or USSD.
- The CMC said it would switch off Korek Telecom's exchanges after September 2026 and told users to move verification codes to Asiacell or Zain Iraq.
- Arabic and Kurdish need UCS-2: 70 characters per SMS, 67 per part when split.

## Who regulates A2P SMS in Iraq?

The Communications and Media Commission (هيأة الإعلام والاتصالات) licenses and regulates telecoms, broadcasting and IT. Its VAS regulation calls it "the exclusive body" for the sector under Legislative Order No. 65 of 2004, and the only body that can grant telecoms licences. Consumers escalate complaints to it on short code 177.

The Kurdistan Region is contested. The Kurdistan Regional Government says its Ministry of Transport and Communications "is responsible for managing and supervising the telecommunications sector in the Kurdistan Region". The CMC says licensing of spectrum and networks is federal and runs "exclusively" through it (22 August 2026), and calls telecoms a federal file that includes the Region (2 October 2026). We found no public text reconciling the two, so follow CMC rules and ask your provider whether anything extra applies in the Region.

## Do you need a licence to send bulk SMS in Iraq?

Companies that provide the service do. Article 8 of the VAS regulation lists bulk SMS (one content sent to many end users within a set period, over Iraqi mobile networks) and individual SMS sent for companies as value-added services, alongside bulk MMS, IVR and premium short codes.

Operators are policed too: one that deals with an unlicensed VAS company is fined IQD 500 million, doubled for a repeat. A brand sending its own OTPs through a provider is not itself a VAS company, but its traffic must still arrive through a licensed path. The key terms:

| Item | What the VAS regulation says |
|---|---|
| Who it covers | Any company applying for a VAS licence (Art. 2); bulk SMS, individual SMS for companies, bulk MMS, IVR, USSD, premium short codes and more (Art. 8) |
| Licence term | One year from issue, renewable for a further year on request made two months before expiry (Art. 10) |
| Fees | IQD 3 million application fee; IQD 100 million licence fee; 10% of annual gross revenue, due by 14 January (Art. 11) |
| Guarantee | Performance bank guarantee of 30% of the proposed investment (Art. 11) |
| Foreign companies | Without an Iraqi branch: up to three services, and the signed contract with the telecom companies must be filed; the telecom companies are responsible for the licensee's failures (Art. 5) |
| Penalties | IQD 250 million and blacklisting for operating unlicensed; IQD 500 million for operators dealing with unlicensed VAS companies (Art. 12) |

A separate September 2024 regulation covers "smart and promotional messages" (SIM-toolkit push, smart SMS and RCS chat) with its own five-year licence. Licensees must send through the licensed operators' message centres and keep delivery reports for six months. It matters for rich messaging, not ordinary A2P SMS.

## How does sender-ID registration work in Iraq?

The CMC regulates sender IDs through the VAS licensee, not a public registry. Article 7, clause 19 requires the licensee to notify the CMC of "the names of clients of SMS or MMS services (SENDER ID)" before contracting with them; the CMC may allow the service if it does not harm national security. Clause 18 adds that the sender must be within Iraq and that international messages may not be passed into Iraq without the CMC's prior written approval.

The CMC publishes no sender-ID form, document list or processing time, so the request goes through your provider and the operator. Asiacell, for example, offers an alphanumeric ID of up to 11 characters in English, a long number, or a short code "if the customer has approval for this service". It asks for an authorisation letter and quotes two working days to process a bulk request. Multi-operator registration through a provider varies, so confirm timelines with yours; our [Iraq coverage page](https://www.broadnet.me/coverage/iraq) shows BroadNet's process.

Keep your OTP sender separate from your marketing sender, and the brand on the ID consistent with your company. Sender types are compared in [short code vs long code vs alphanumeric](https://www.broadnet.me/blog/sms-sender-types-short-long-code-alphanumeric).

## What consent and opt-out rules apply?

The rules bind the licensee, but they decide what your messages may do:

| Rule | What the CMC text says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Prior consent | No user may be entered into any service without prior consent, even a free one | VAS Art. 9 |
| Specific consent | For services without a subscription, consent must cover one specific type only — products, information, programmes, competitions, advertisements or similar | VAS Art. 9 |
| Right to stop | The end user may end the service at any time, or must have given prior consent to receive it | VAS Art. 7(17), Art. 9 |
| Opt-out | Exit must be clear, free, by SMS or USSD code and in one step | VAS Art. 9 |
| Advertising messages | Must show the name or number of the advertiser, must not mislead, and must state the price and billing method of any paid service | VAS Art. 9 |
| Complaints | Promotional messages not stopped on the consumer's request are a complaint category with a 24-hour handling target; escalation to the CMC on 177 | Consumer protection regulation; VAS Art. 7(20) |

OTPs and alerts are not advertisements, but an offer inside an OTP template makes it one; see [transactional vs promotional SMS](https://www.broadnet.me/blog/transactional-vs-promotional-sms).

We found no CMC rule on sending hours or on keeping consent records. Plan conservative hours in Iraqi time (UTC+3) with our [send-window planner](https://www.broadnet.me/tools/send-window-planner), and keep proof of consent anyway.

## Which mobile operators are there, and what happened to Korek?

In its 13 September 2026 notice the CMC called Asiacell and Zain Iraq "the two licensed mobile companies". It has been shutting down the third, Korek Telecom:

- 2 June 2026 — the CMC cancelled its settlement contract with Korek for breach and moved to stop all its operations.
- 9 August 2026 — the CMC said it was stopping Korek's network and told subscribers not to top up, but to keep their SIMs.
- 24 August 2026 — the Rusafa Court of First Instance cancelled an injunction sought by Korek and kept the CMC's decision in force.
- 13 September 2026 — after the end of September, Korek's exchanges would be switched off in Baghdad and then the other governorates; users should put an Asiacell or Zain Iraq number on their accounts for verification codes.

As of 10 October 2026 the CMC had not announced that the switch-off was complete. Assume Korek numbers may stop receiving SMS without warning:

1. Split delivery reports by network and watch for undelivered or expired messages to Korek numbers.
2. Prompt affected users to add a second number, as the CMC advised, and offer email or authenticator recovery.
3. Add a fallback channel for verification — see [voice OTP and fallback](https://www.broadnet.me/blog/voice-otp-fallback-verification) and [OTP](https://www.broadnet.me/products/otp).
4. Don't treat an undelivered OTP as fraud by default during a network shutdown.

## How do Arabic and Kurdish messages encode?

An SMS is encoded in GSM-7 (the 7-bit default alphabet) or UCS-2 (Unicode), and the encoding sets how many characters fit and so what you pay. Arabic has no GSM-7 characters, so one Arabic word switches the whole message to UCS-2. Sorani Kurdish uses an extended Arabic script (ڕ, ڵ, ێ, ۆ) and is always UCS-2. Kurmanji uses Latin script, but ê, î, û and ş are not in the GSM-7 basic set, so most Kurmanji text is UCS-2 too.

| Encoding | Single SMS | Per part when split | Typical Iraqi use |
|---|---|---|---|
| GSM-7 | 160 characters | 153 characters | English-only OTPs and alerts |
| UCS-2 | 70 characters | 67 characters | Arabic, Sorani Kurdish, most Kurmanji, any emoji |

A 140-character Arabic message needs three parts (67 + 67 + 6), billed as three messages. Keep Arabic OTPs within 70 characters and don't drop one Arabic word into an English template. Asiacell says it sends in English, Arabic and Kurdish. Check templates in our [SMS segment calculator](https://www.broadnet.me/tools/sms-segment-calculator); the character tables are in [SMS encoding and segmentation](https://www.broadnet.me/blog/sms-encoding-segmentation-gsm7-ucs2).

## Practical checklist for sending A2P SMS to Iraq

1. Ask your provider which CMC-licensed path your traffic uses into Asiacell and Zain Iraq; under clause 18, offshore routes are a compliance risk as well as a delivery risk ([direct vs grey routes](https://www.broadnet.me/blog/direct-routes-vs-grey-routes-a2p-sms)).
2. Register separate OTP and marketing sender IDs before launch.
3. Collect opt-in that names the type of content, name the advertiser in every promotion, and support a free one-step opt-out.
4. Keep Arabic OTPs to one UCS-2 segment (70 characters).
5. Monitor delivery by network, with a fallback channel ready for Korek numbers.

> BroadNet has run A2P messaging since 2003 over 1,000+ direct operator connections, with direct routes in 86 countries and a 99.99% uptime SLA. Iraq's list rate is from USD 0.045 per SMS (published band USD 0.035–0.06) — see [Iraq SMS pricing](https://www.broadnet.me/pricing/sms/iraq). The country rules summary is on [Iraq SMS regulations](https://www.broadnet.me/regulations/iraq), and the buyer's view is in [best SMS provider in Iraq](https://www.broadnet.me/compare/best-sms-provider-iraq). Send with POST /sms/sendSms on api.broadnet.me once you have [test access](https://www.broadnet.me/signup).

## Frequently asked questions

### Who regulates SMS in Iraq?

The Communications and Media Commission (CMC), under Order No. 65 of 2004. It licenses the mobile operators and value-added service companies, bulk SMS providers among them. In the Kurdistan Region, the regional Ministry of Transport and Communications also says it supervises telecoms, while the CMC says licensing is federal.

### Do I need a CMC licence to send A2P SMS in Iraq?

A company that sells bulk SMS needs a CMC value-added services (VAS) licence. A brand sending its own messages normally sends through such a provider, but the traffic must still enter Iraq on a licensed path.

### Is sender-ID registration required in Iraq?

Yes, in effect. The VAS regulation requires the licensee to notify the CMC of each client's sender ID before contracting with that client. The CMC publishes no direct application process, so registration runs through your provider and the operators.

### Can I use an Arabic sender ID in Iraq?

Not on the evidence we found. Asiacell describes alphanumeric sender IDs as up to 11 characters in English, and the CMC publishes no sender-ID character rules. Plan on a Latin-character ID and confirm anything else with your provider.

### Is opt-in consent required for marketing SMS in Iraq?

Yes. The VAS regulation bars enrolling anyone in a service without prior consent. The consent must cover one specific type of content, such as advertisements, and opting out must be free and take one step by SMS or USSD.

### Are there quiet hours for marketing SMS in Iraq?

We found no CMC rule on sending hours for A2P SMS as of October 2026. Sending promotions during normal waking hours in Iraqi time (UTC+3) is the safe default.

### Will my OTPs reach Korek Telecom numbers?

They may not. The CMC said it would switch off Korek's exchanges after the end of September 2026 and told users to get verification codes on an Asiacell or Zain Iraq number. Watch delivery reports by network and offer a fallback.

### How many characters fit in an Arabic SMS?

Seventy in a single message. Longer messages split into parts of 67 characters, each billed as one SMS. Kurdish in Arabic script follows the same UCS-2 limits.

We read every source below on 10 October 2026. Where an official site blocked our servers we used a web.archive.org copy, and CMC texts were read in the original Arabic. See our [editorial standards](https://www.broadnet.me/about/editorial-standards).

## Sources

- CMC — Regulation on Value-Added Services (VAS) licensing, first edition March 2026, Board of Commissioners decision No. 27 of 31 March 2026 (Arabic; read 10 October 2026): [cmc.iq](https://cmc.iq/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D9%87%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%B4%D8%B1%D9%83%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D9%8A%D9%85%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B6%D8%A7%D9%81%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B4%D9%88%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%88%D9%82%D8%B9.pdf).
- CMC — Regulation on licensing and organising smart and promotional messages for licensed telecom companies, September 2024, Board decision 108/2024 of 9 September 2024 (Arabic): [cmc.iq](https://cmc.iq/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Licensing-and-regulation-of-smart-and-promotional-messages-for-licensed-telecommunications-companies.pdf).
- CMC — Consumer protection regulation (Arabic; accessed 10 October 2026): [cmc.iq](https://cmc.iq/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%A6%D8%AD%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B8%D9%8A%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%84%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%87%D9%84%D9%83.pdf).
- CMC — Telecommunications regulation page, list of regulations and forms (accessed 10 October 2026): [cmc.iq](https://cmc.iq/telecom/).
- CMC — Cancellation of the settlement contract with Korek Telecom, 2 June 2026: [cmc.iq](https://cmc.iq/?p=20448); statement to Korek subscribers, 9 August 2026: [cmc.iq](https://cmc.iq/?p=21006); court ruling keeping the CMC decision in force, 26 August 2026: [cmc.iq](https://cmc.iq/?p=21182); deadline before Korek exchanges are switched off, 13 September 2026: [cmc.iq](https://cmc.iq/?p=21273).
- CMC — Executive head at the Baghdad Dialogue conference on federal licensing, 22 August 2026: [cmc.iq](https://cmc.iq/?p=21089); ITEX 2026 statement that telecoms is a federal file including the Kurdistan Region, 2 October 2026: [cmc.iq](https://cmc.iq/?p=21312).
- Kurdistan Regional Government — Ministry of Transport and Communications (web.archive.org copy of 23 March 2026; gov.krd blocks our servers): [gov.krd](https://gov.krd/motac-en/).
- Asiacell — Bulk SMS service (accessed 10 October 2026): [asiacell.com](https://www.asiacell.com/en/business/business-solutions/bulk-sms).