Key Takeaways
According to a report by Statistica, the revenue of telco industry in Argentina amounted to 1.76 trillion Argentine pesos in 2023.
Here, we explain all the SMS regulations in Argentina in detail.
Argentina SMS Guidelines and Restrictions
- Promotional SMS Timings
Promotional and marketing messages may only be sent between 9:00 AM and 10:00 PM, Monday through Sunday. Advertising messages can only be sent to opted in contacts. You can refer to our guide on promotional SMS to get a comprehensive view of best practices.
- Operator Compliance
Argentinian operator policies prohibit traffic that promotes networks other than the one the SMS is terminating with. Messages violating this rule will not be delivered.
- Mandatory for Opt-In
- Operators accept any form of opt-in (e.g., web, call center, MO, paper form etc.). Content providers must retain proof of opt-in to present during operator audits or in response to user complaints.
- Messages and campaigns must strictly align with the content initially submitted and approved by the operators.
- Mandatory for Opt-Out
- Content providers are responsible for removing users from their database upon opt-out requests.
- Users must send "FIN" or "BAJA" to the specific dedicated short code.
- The opt-out SMS must include the above keywords along with the program-specific keyword.
- Invalid Opt-In
- Collecting a recipient's phone number for one purpose (e.g., validating payments) and using it to send unrelated messages.
- Purchasing, borrowing, renting or acquiring phone numbers or lead lists from third parties.
- Obtaining opt-in for transactional messages (e.g., delivery notifications) and then subscribing recipients to recurring campaigns without explicit consent.
- Alphanumeric sender ID
- Alphanumeric Sender IDs are not supported and registration is unavailable. As the Sender IDs are not preserved therefore mobile subscribers will see a different ‘from sender ID’ than the one sent through.
- UCS-2 encoding is supported for dynamic phone numbers.
You can also refer to our guide on alphanumeric sender IDs for a reference.
- Number Portability
Number Portability is available according to the guidelines.
- Delivery Reporting
DLR or Delivery reporting of SMS is not allowed.
- Provisioning Time
Provisioning involves obtaining approval and registration of the sender ID with mobile networks based on country-specific requirements. It refers to the duration of this process in a given country. However, this is not applicable as per guidelines.
- Rules for Messaging Ways
- One Way Messaging
UCS2 or Latin1 encoding is not supported. If UCS2 is used, messages fail to deliver. If Latin1 is used, accented characters are either replaced with spaces or converted to unaccented equivalents. For example, "mañana" may appear as "ma ana" or "manana."
- Two Way Messaging
Two-way SMS through dedicated short codes is available and both transactional and promotional messages are permitted, but all services require prior approval from the operators.
- Prohibited Content for Messaging
Prohibited content type include: -
a. Sexual or pornographic material; b. Abusive or harassing deemed content; c. Firearms (including fireworks); d. Alcohol, tobacco or illegal drugs; e. High-risk financial topics; f. Cryptocurrency related content (including OTP); g. Gambling related content; h. Investment opportunities; i. Unsolicited real estate inquiries; j. Multilevel marketing schemes; k. Repeated sending or receiving of one-time passcodes on behalf of other service providers
- Long and Short Codes Rules
- Short codes and long codes (both domestic and international) are supported.
- Sender IDs are preserved for short codes but not for long codes.
- Provisioning time for short codes is 6-15 weeks however there is no provisioning time for long codes.
- Supports UCS-2 encoding for short codes and long codes international numbers
- Some use cases of short code include OTP SMS verification or 2FA (Two Factor Authorization); promotional, marketing and account alert notifications and reminders.
- Bulk SMS Rules
Rules for Long Virtual Numbers (LVN) are
- A maximum of 500 messages per day per LVN.
- No more than 40 messages every 10 minutes per LVN.
- A limit of 5 messages per minute from the same LVN.
Send SMS in Argentina in Message Central
Message Central is a CPaaS provider which is a one stop solution for all business communication and authentication needs. For SMS the platform provides:-
- SMS APIs for all types of SMS campaigns
- OTP SMS APIs for user authentication
You can simply get in touch with the team to get started.
