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Sep 9, 2026 · by Tawked

SMS sender names in Saudi Arabia: how registration works, what it costs, and what CST requires

What a sender name (sender ID) is, why every business SMS in Saudi Arabia has to carry a registered one, who can register it, the documents involved, the public fees, how long it takes, and how Tawked handles it for you.

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: your store's name, your app's name, your 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 the name they know is far more likely to read the code and far less likely to report the message. 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 you need

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). Some providers add a one-time setup fee.

Timing varies more than price. Providers quote anything from 24 to 72 business hours to 10 to 20 business days, depending on how complete the paperwork is and on the provider's own queue. Plan for a week, 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

With Tawked the sender name is part of the product rather than a separate purchase:

  • You add your application's name and website during onboarding. A person reviews it during business hours against the same rules above, then it is registered with the licensed gateway Tawked sends through.
  • There is no yearly sender-name fee; the reviewed identity is included in the SAR 0.09 per delivered code.
  • While review is pending you can already integrate and test. A sandbox key sends real, stamped messages to your own phone from day one, so the code path is finished before the name is approved.
  • Every SMS carries your reviewed name; there is no path to send under a name that was not reviewed.

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

Sources (checked 2026-09-09)

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