SMS sender ID registration in Saudi Arabia

Short version: a sender name is the name an SMS shows instead of a number. In Saudi Arabia it is registered through a CST-licensed provider, and public lists price it at SAR 230 a year. You need your own only to send SMS under your own name. Verification codes do not need one: Tawked, an OTP verification API for Saudi numbers, sends every code from its own sender ID, names your app in the message text, and charges SAR 0.09 per code sent.

What a sender name is

When an SMS arrives on a Saudi phone from a business, the "from" field is a name, not a number: a store's name, an app's name, a bank's name. That name is the sender name, also called sender ID or alphanumeric sender. It is up to 11 Latin characters, it cannot be replied to, and in Saudi Arabia it cannot be invented on the spot. It has to be registered before the networks will carry it.

Registration is what makes the name trustworthy. A customer who sees a name they know is more likely to read the message and less likely to report it. It is also what prevents somebody else from sending a message as you.

Who sets the rules

The regulator is the Communications, Space and Technology Commission (CST, formerly CITC). The rule that governs business SMS today is the Regulations of the Provision of the Short Messaging Service (SMS), Decision 515/1445, published 2024-02-08. It applies to licensed SMS service providers and their customers, and it is the reason sender names are registered centrally rather than per gateway.

What this looks like from a customer's side, as providers describe it:

• Business messages to Saudi numbers go through a CST-licensed provider. A global platform that is not licensed sends through a local partner.
• A sender name is registered centrally through that provider, once; providers describe this as registration on the national sender-name platform, and that registration is what every network checks.
• The name has to belong to you: it matches your trade name or brand as shown on your commercial registration or freelance document, and you authorise the provider to register it.
• Impersonation is refused. Names of banks, government bodies, well-known brands and generic words like "OTP" or "Verify" are not granted to third parties.

The full text lives in CST's PDF (linked under Sources). The summary above is what the process looks like from a customer's side in 2026; CST's document is the authority if anything here differs.

What a business needs to register one

Providers ask for the same small set:

1. A commercial registration (CR), or a freelance document for individuals.
2. An authorisation letter naming the provider and the sender name, signed by the business.
3. The sender name itself: up to 11 characters, Latin letters and digits, matching the registered name or brand. Arabic names are transliterated.
4. Your website or app, so the reviewer can see the name in use.

What it costs and how long it takes

Public price lists from Saudi gateways show a yearly fee of around SAR 230 per sender name (checked 2026-09-09 on 4Jawaly's pricing page; Msegat's FAQ states the same figure).

Timing varies by provider and by how complete the paperwork is. Ask your provider, and start the registration before the launch date, not on it.

Rules that bite after registration

• The name must stay yours. Changing the sender name means a new registration.
• Content still matters. A registered name does not let you send promotions to people who did not opt in; CST's anti-spam rules apply. One-time codes are transactional messages the recipient asked for, so they are not affected by promotional sending windows.
• One name per identity. You cannot share a registered name across unrelated businesses.

How Tawked handles it

Verification codes sent through Tawked do not need a sender name of your own:

• Every code comes from Tawked's own sender ID. You cannot register, choose or change a sender ID with Tawked.
• The message text names your application: "Your {app name} verification code is: 482913", then a line "via Tawked". A person reviews the application's name and website during business hours before live codes carry it. Renaming the application sends it back to review.
• So there is nothing to register on your side: no sender ID application, no paperwork, no sender-ID fee. You pay SAR 0.09 per code sent.
• While review is pending you can already integrate and test. A sandbox key sends real, stamped messages to the account owner's phone from day one, so the code path is finished before the name is approved.

A business that also wants its marketing or service SMS under its own name needs its own sender ID, arranged with an SMS provider as described above.

Two calls, documented at tawked.com/en/docs. The rest of the platform is on the Tawked Verify page.

Sources (checked 2026-09-09)

• CST, Regulations of the Provision of the Short Messaging Service (SMS), Decision 515/1445, 2024-02-08: https://www.cst.gov.sa/en/regulations-and-licenses/regulations/Document-1560
• CST, Regulations for Curbing SPAM Messages and Calls: https://www.cst.gov.sa/en/regulations-and-licenses/decisions/Regulation-469
• 4Jawaly pricing (sender name fee): https://www.4jawaly.com/en/pricing
• Msegat FAQ (sender name fee): https://www.msegat.com/en/faqs