Largest MENA market · CST-registered

SMS gateway, bulk SMS and CST sender ID registration in Saudi Arabia.

BroadNet is an SMS gateway for bulk SMS and OTP in Saudi Arabia, with CST sender ID registration handled on your behalf (typically 5-10 business days). Direct A2P agreements with STC, Mobily, and Zain KSA — sender IDs registered through CST, PDPL-aligned, AED or SAR billing.

Request route availability for Saudi Arabia Get pricing for Saudi Arabia

+966·MCC 420·CST·SAR billing

Routing snapshot

Direct operators

Operator-direct binds to every major MNO.

Latency

2.9 s

typical OTP

Typical delivery

99.4%

typical delivery rate

Price band

SAR 0.06 – 0.0649

per SMS

Regulator

CST

sender ID filed

Carrier-grade infrastructure, operating since 2003.

Indicative from-rates

From-rates by channel in Saudi Arabia

Plan a launch See the full rate card

SMSfrom$0.0160per SMSIndicative list rate, reviewed September 24, 2026Volume pricing available
OTPRequest a quote Channel list rate from $0.0120 per verification (all markets)
WhatsAppRequest a quote Channel list rate from $0.0135 per template message (all markets)
RCSRequest a quote Channel list rate from $0.0080 per session (all markets)
VoiceRequest a quote Channel list rate from $0.0150 per minute (all markets)

Indicative list prices in USD, excluding taxes and sender-ID registration fees. Final per-operator pricing is confirmed in your quote.

02 · Country overview

The Saudi Arabia A2P market at a glance.

Saudi Arabia

Direct operators · 3

Saudi ArabiaOther BroadNet marketsBroadNet HQ, Dubai

Saudi Arabia is the largest MENA mobile market — 47.6M subscriptions across STC, Mobily (Etihad Etisalat), and Zain KSA, with Virgin Mobile KSA as a Zain-spectrum MVNO. CST (Communications, Space and Technology Commission) is the active regulator: every alphanumeric sender ID is approved by CST plus the operator, foreign senders must terminate via a CST-licensed local aggregator, and Saudi PDPL has been fully enforced since 2024. Arabic content is required for banking, government, and several other regulated categories. Operator quiet hours track local prayer timings on several networks.

Technical facts

Technical facts for Saudi Arabia

Network codes, message lengths and sender-ID rules in one table. Segment lengths are the GSM standard values (3GPP TS 23.038).

Technical facts for Saudi Arabia
Mobile country code (MCC)	420
Dialling code	+966
Operators (MCC-MNC)	STC (Saudi Telecom Co.) · 420-01 Mobily (Etihad Etisalat) · 420-03 Zain KSA · 420-04
SMS length, GSM-7 (Latin alphabet)	160 characters in a single SMS; 153 per part when concatenated
SMS length, UCS-2 (Arabic, Cyrillic and other scripts)	70 characters in a single SMS; 67 per part when concatenated
Regulator	CST (Communications, Space and Technology Commission)
Sender-ID rules	Alphanumeric IDs require CST + operator approval; one ID per legal entity per use case. Foreign senders must bind through a CST-licensed local aggregator. Arabic and Latin scripts both supported.
Sender-ID lead time	5-10 business days

How to register a sender ID

03 · Supported channels

Channels live in Saudi Arabia.

One contract, one contact model. Fall back between SMS, WhatsApp, and Voice with shared opt-in evidence and a single audit trail.

Live

SMS

Operator-direct A2P to STC, Mobily, and Zain KSA. Arabic UCS-2 at parity with GSM-7.

Live

OTP

Sub-3-second median; two-shot OTP supported with DLR confirmation.

Live

WhatsApp Business API live — BroadNet is an official Meta Business Solution Provider. Strong banking and government adoption.

Available

RCS

RCS Business Messaging available on STC and Mobily via MaaP; expanding on Zain KSA.

Live

Voice

Voice OTP and TTS callouts live with Arabic-native voices.

04 · Sender ID registration

How do I register a sender ID in Saudi Arabia?

Filed end-to-end by BroadNet's compliance team — KYC pack, operator approval, and renewal cycles handled on your behalf.

Scope

CST · STC, Mobily, Zain KSA

5–10 business days

Format: Alphanumeric (Latin or Arabic), up to 11 chars
Pre-registration: Required — one ID per legal entity per use case; CST + operator approval
KYC documents: Saudi commercial registration (CR), authorisation letter, sample templates (EN + AR), traffic-type declaration, CST-licensed aggregator binding
Renewal cycle: Annual
Common rejection causes: Foreign senders attempting direct bind without a CST-licensed aggregator, generic IDs (INFO, ALERT), missing Arabic templates for regulated categories, or brand mismatch with the CR.

05 · OTP delivery

What OTP delivery looks like in Saudi Arabia.

Latency profile, peak-hour behaviour, recommended fallback chain, and the fraud signals our firewall watches in-market.

Typical latency window

Median 2.9s with p95 inside 7s on STC, Mobily, and Zain KSA. Two-shot OTP delivery confirmed via DLR.

Peak-hour behaviour

Throughput holds steady through the working week; BroadNet load-shapes per-MNO to smooth campaign bursts.

Fallback chain

Recommended chain: SMS (primary, Arabic preferred) → WhatsApp Business OTP after 25s no-DLR → Voice OTP after 45s. Arabic-template fallback registered alongside Latin.

Fraud signals we watch

SIM-swap attempts on banking-onboarding flows are the dominant signal. Grey-route arbitrage from foreign aggregators is the second — these are blocked at the operator firewall on the licensed route, but velocity-spike monitoring on first-OTP-after-signup is recommended for high-value flows.

06 · Marketing SMS rules

What you can — and can't — send.

Opt-in, opt-out, quiet hours, content restrictions, and the penalty regime for the Saudi Arabia market.

Opt-in

Verifiable opt-in required with PDPL-aligned consent capture. Source, timestamp, channel, and lawful-basis records retained for the life of the relationship.

Opt-out

STOP / ايقاف honoured network-wide. One-step opt-out, irreversible until the recipient re-consents. CST audits the audit trail.

Quiet hours

CST's Regulations for Curbing SPAM Messages & Calls ban promotional messages from 22:00 to 09:00 daily, and from 01:00 to 12:00 during Ramadan. Transactional 24/7.

Content restrictions

Arabic templates required for banking, government, and several other regulated categories. Gambling, adult, and unlicensed financial services are blocked at the operator firewall. Mixed-script abuse (Latin chars masquerading as Arabic) is flagged automatically.

Regulator penalties

CST sanctions for unsolicited or grey-route traffic — fines per violation, sender-ID delisting, and aggregator-licence review for repeat offenders. PDPL adds data-protection penalties on top for the underlying PII handling.

07 · Local operators

Termination,
network by network.

The route status column shows how each operator is reached — a direct BroadNet bind or a labelled partner route. No grey-route exposure. Route grades are indicative planning guides, not live measurements.

Operator	MCC-MNC	Route status	Grade	A2P rate (typ.)
STC (Saudi Telecom Co.)	420-01	Direct	A+	SAR 0.06
Mobily (Etihad Etisalat)	420-03	Direct	A+	SAR 0.06
Zain KSA	420-04	Direct	A	SAR 0.0649
Virgin Mobile KSA	MVNO · STC	Operator-grade	A	SAR 0.06

Rates shown are typical pay-as-you-go for transactional traffic. Promotional traffic is priced separately, and volume tiers reduce both. See the rate-card section below for the full ladder.

Tier	Transactional	Promotional	Notes
Pay-as-you-go	SAR 0.060	SAR 0.073	List rate up to 100K messages/month
Growth · 100K+	SAR 0.053	SAR 0.065	Auto-tier discount
Volume · 1M+	SAR 0.0444	SAR 0.054	Includes quarterly route review
Enterprise	Custom	Custom	Direct operator pricing + signed SLA

CST sender ID registration handled by BroadNet — typically 5-10 business days, single fee per legal entity.

Open the Saudi Arabia rate card

08 · Compliance

Compliant
by default.

Every send is pre-screened against Communications, Space and Technology Commission (CST) rules, the operator firewalls, and the local privacy framework. Where registration is required, BroadNet files the paperwork on your behalf.

Saudi PDPL fully enforced from 2024 — consent, data minimisation, 72-hour breach notification, cross-border restrictions. Some categories (banking, government) require Arabic content. Operator-specific quiet hours apply.

Full regulatory deep-dive

CST-licensed routes only

All A2P SMS must terminate via a CST-licensed local aggregator. Foreign senders bind through BroadNet's KSA entity.

Pre-registered sender IDs

Alphanumeric IDs require CST + operator approval. Reservation is one ID per legal entity per use case.

PDPL 2023 enforcement

Saudi PDPL is fully enforced from 2024. Consent, data minimisation, 72-hour breach notification, cross-border transfer restrictions.

Arabic + Latin content

UCS-2 (Arabic) routes carry the same SLA as GSM-7. BroadNet's compliance engine flags mixed-script abuse automatically.

No off-window promotional

Marketing windows mirror local prayer timing for several operators. Engine applies operator-specific quiet hours by default.

09 · Use cases

Programmes that work well in Saudi Arabia.

Where the BroadNet operator-direct footprint, the local regulator regime, and consumer messaging habits line up.

01
Banking and Islamic-finance OTP and transaction alerts under SAMA's regulatory regime — Arabic templates required.
02
Government and Vision-2030 digital-services citizen alerts (Absher, Tawakkalna-style flows).
03
E-commerce OTP and post-purchase engagement during Riyadh / Jeddah peak retail seasons.
04
Healthcare and tele-medicine appointment reminders aligned with SDAIA / MoH confidentiality rules.
05
Hajj and Umrah pilgrim-services notifications during the seasonal peak.

10 · How BroadNet helps

What we run for Saudi Arabia senders.

The operator relationships, the compliance workflow, the routing position — all on a single contract and a single account team.

CST-licensed local entity; foreign senders bind through BroadNet's KSA aggregator licence with no grey-route exposure.
Sender-ID registration with CST + STC, Mobily, and Zain KSA handled end-to-end in 5–10 business days.
Arabic-template review by an in-house compliance team — required for banking, government, and several other regulated categories.
CST promotional sending window (09:00–22:00, stricter during Ramadan) applied automatically to promotional sends.
PDPL-aligned data plane with SDAIA-compatible PII handling, 72-hour breach-notification workflow built in.
SAR billing from day one, with AED and USD also available for group-treasury operations.

11 · FAQ

Buyer questions about Saudi Arabia.

The questions BroadNet's sales engineers field every week from teams shipping into this market.

Do I need an Arabic version of my OTP for KSA?

Yes for banking, government, and several other regulated categories — Arabic templates are required by the operator approval process. For other verticals, Arabic is strongly recommended for consumer trust. UCS-2 Arabic carries the same SLA and price as GSM-7.

Can a foreign sender bind directly to STC or Mobily?

No — CST requires that all A2P SMS terminate via a CST-licensed local aggregator. Foreign senders bind through BroadNet's KSA entity; the licence and operator relationships are maintained on your behalf with no grey-route exposure.

How long does CST sender-ID approval take?

5–10 business days once the paperwork is in. BroadNet's compliance team handles filing with CST plus STC, Mobily, and Zain KSA in parallel. Renewals are annual and handled automatically.

What KYC paperwork does CST require?

Saudi commercial registration (CR), an authorisation letter on company letterhead, sample message templates in English and Arabic, a traffic-type declaration, and the binding to a CST-licensed aggregator. BroadNet supplies the templates and walks you through the pack.

Is WhatsApp Business API live in KSA?

Yes — BroadNet is an official Meta Business Solution Provider (BSP), and WhatsApp is live with strong adoption in banking and government. OTP, utility, and authentication templates are supported alongside marketing on the same contract and opt-in evidence.

How does PDPL affect my recipient data?

Saudi PDPL has been fully enforced since 2024 — consent capture, data minimisation, 72-hour breach notification, and cross-border transfer restrictions all apply. BroadNet's data plane is PDPL-aligned and recipient PII does not leave the regional perimeter without a documented legal basis.

Can I send promotional SMS to a Saudi recipient without prior opt-in?

No — verifiable opt-in is mandatory and the consent source must be retained for the life of the relationship. Transactional OTP and account-level alerts are exempt from marketing-consent rules.

12 · Sample template

A ready-to-adapt template for Saudi Arabia.

In the local script alongside English. Copy, swap the brand, and we'll register it as part of your sender-ID onboarding.

Mobile subscribers: 47.6M
Sender ID lead: 5-10 business days
Time-to-launch: Live in 5–15 business days from test-access request to production
Billed in: SAR / USD / AED

Sample A2P template · Saudi Arabia

English

Your one-time code is 274501. Valid for 5 minutes. Do not share.

Arabic

رمز التحقق لمرة واحدة هو 274501. صالح لمدة 5 دقائق. لا تشاركه.

Alphanumeric IDs require CST + operator approval; one ID per legal entity per use case. Foreign senders must bind through a CST-licensed local aggregator. Arabic and Latin scripts both supported.

13 · Region