Help Center/ Message & SMS/ Service Overview/ Mode 1: Pay-per-Use Billing upon SMS Package Runout/ Sending Rules and Restrictions/ SMS Length Calculation
Updated on 2024-05-11 GMT+08:00
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SMS Length Calculation

Rules

  • Each template can contain a maximum of 500 characters, including the message content and SMS signature.
  • When an SMS longer than the allowed length is sent, the customer receives one SMS. The Message & SMS platform automatically splits this SMS into multiple shorter SMSs based on preset rules for service statistics collection and charging.

SMS Type

Character Counting Rule

Remarks

International SMSs (sent to mobile numbers outside the Chinese mainland)

SMSs in English:

  • GSM-7 characters are used for counting.
  • If an SMS contains 160 characters or less, it is counted as one SMS.

    If an SMS contains more than 160 characters, every 153 characters are counted as one SMS.
  • If an SMS contains 158 English characters, it is counted as one SMS. If an SMS contains 164 (153 + 11) characters, it is counted as two SMSs. If an SMS contains 320 (153 + 153 + 14) characters, it is counted as three SMSs.
  • For example, if an SMS template contains variable ${NUM_8} set to 123456, that variable is counted as six characters.

SMSs in other languages:

  • Each Unicode character, such as a letter, digit, punctuation (full-width and half-width), and space, is counted as one character.
  • If an SMS contains 70 characters or less, it is counted as one SMS.

    If an SMS contains more than 70 characters, every 67 characters are counted as one SMS.

Chinese Mainland SMSs (sent to phone numbers in the Chinese mainland)
  • Each Unicode character, such as a letter, digit, punctuation (full-width and half-width), and space, is counted as one character.
  • Length of an SMS = number of characters in the SMS template + number of characters in the signature.
  • If an SMS contains 70 characters or less, it is counted as one SMS.

    If an SMS contains more than 70 characters, every 67 characters are counted as one SMS.
  • Each letter and digit in a signature is counted as a character. For example, [HUAWEI] is counted as eight characters.
  • For example, if an SMS template contains variable ${NUM_8} set to 123456, that variable is counted as six characters.
Table 1 GSM-7 characters

Category

Counting Rule

Specific Characters

Standard characters

Each is counted as one character.

! " # $ % ' ( ) * + , - . / : ; < = > ? @ _ ¡ £ ¥ § ¿ & ¤

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Ä Å Æ Ç É Ñ Ø ø Ü ß Ö à ä å æ è é ì ñ ò ö ù ü Δ Φ Γ Λ Ω Π Ψ Σ Θ Ξ

Extension characters

Each is counted as two characters.

| ^ € { } [ ] ~ \