Guidelines

Mexico (MX)

We've compiled regulatory and compliance information to help ensure you're communicating effectively and compliantly around the world.

Locale Summary

Locale name

Mexico

ISO code
The International Organization for Standardization two character representation for the given locale.

MX

Region

North America

Mobile country code
A three digit code associated with the given locale and used in conjunction with a Mobile Network Code to uniquely identify mobile networks.

334

Dialing code
The dialing prefix used to establish a call or send an SMS from one locale to the given locale.

+52

Guidelines

Two-way SMS supported
Whether Twilio supports two-way SMS in the given locale.

Yes

Number portability available
Whether number portability is available in the given locale.

Yes

Twilio concatenated message support
Concatenation refers to the capability of splitting a message that is too long to be sent in one SMS into smaller pieces and then joining the pieces at the receiving end so that the receiver sees the message as one. 

Yes*
For certain sender ID types this may not be supported. Where messages are split and rejoined may vary based on character encoding.

Message length
How many characters can be sent given a particular message encoding before the message will be split into concatenated segments.

160 ASCII characters per message.

Twilio MMS support
Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) provides a standards-based means to send pictures and video to mobile phones.

Converted to SMS with embedded URL.

Sending SMS to landline numbers
How Twilio handles an SMS message destined for landline telephone number.

You cannot send SMS to a landline destination number: the Twilio REST API will throw a 400 response with error code 21614, the message will not appear in the logs, and the account will not be charged.

Compliance considerations
Twilio strongly encourages customers to review proposed use cases with qualified legal counsel to make sure that they comply with all applicable laws. This table lists some general best practices.


Message delivery to M2M numbers is on best effort basis only.

Dial plan

The dial plan in Mexico has recently changed to remove the need to add a 1 after the country code when texting a mobile number, this means that now only the 10-digit subscriber number needs to be dialed after the +52 country prefix, for example +525512345678.

Use-case restrictions

You must not use SMS as a marketing or research tool in Mexican elections. Carriers will block any numbers used to promote a particular political candidate or cause.

You should not use Mexican mobile numbers to send marketing, one-way, or application-to-person (A2P) traffic. URLs and brand names are some of the A2P content likely to be blocked when sending from Mexican numbers.

Sending firearms, gambling, adult content, money/loan, lead generation, Text 2 Pay, controlled substance, cannabis, and alcohol related content is strictly prohibited.

It is best practice not to send messages between 9PM and 9AM.

Twilio strongly encourages customers to review proposed use cases with qualified legal counsel to make sure that they comply with all applicable laws. The following are some general best practices:

  1. Get opt-in consent from each end-user before sending any communication to them, particularly for marketing or other non-essential communications.
  2. Only communicate during an end-user’s daytime hours unless it is urgent.
  3. SMS campaigns should support HELP/STOP messages, and similar messages, in the end-user’s local language.
  4. Do not contact end-users on do-not-call or do-not-disturb registries.

Phone Numbers & Sender ID

Alphanumeric
 

International Pre-registration

Domestic Pre-registration

Dynamic

Operator network capability
Whether mobile operators in the given country support the feature.

Supported (Optional)

Required

Supported

Twilio supported
Whether Twilio supports the feature for the given country.

Supported
Learn more

Sender ID preserved
In some countries sender IDs for certain sender types are not preserved and are changed for compliance and/or deliverability reasons. In these countries mobile subscribers will see a different ‘from sender ID’ than the one sent by you.

Yes

Yes

No

Provisioning time
Provisioning is the process of getting the sender ID approved and registered with mobile networks (depending on country requirements). Provisioning time is how long this process takes in the given country.

3 weeks

3 weeks

N/A

UCS-2 support

Supported

Supported

Supported

Use case restrictions

All promotional traffic must have clear opt out instructions.

Pre-registration is only supported for the Telcel, Movistar and AT&T networks. If traffic is sent to a different MNO or MVNO, it will be delivered with a shared short code.

All promotional traffic must have clear opt out instructions.

Pre-registration is only supported for the Telcel, Movistar and AT&T networks. If traffic is sent to a different MNO or MVNO, it will be delivered with a shared short code.

Domestic customers using a Dynamic Alphanumeric Sender ID to submit their messages, should avoid mentioning any international brand names (WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, etc) in their SMS content as it could result in message filtering and blocking. In case using such international brand names in the text is required, Twilio suggests pre-registering an Alphanumeric Sender ID so that the message templates get checked and allowlisted.

SMS sent with an Alphanumeric Sender ID that is not registered will have the sender ID value overwritten with a random local long number or short code to ensure delivery.

Best practices

Twilio strongly recommends and advises customers who have registered a Domestic Sender ID to exclusively utilize Spanish language within the body content of their SMS messages. This practice ensures compliance with regional regulations.

Customers with Domestic Traffic are suggested registering a Domestic Alphanumeric Sender ID 

Long codes and short codes
 

Long code domestic

Long code international

Short code

Operator network capability
Whether mobile operators in the given country support the feature.

Supported

Supported

Supported

Twilio supported
Whether Twilio supports the feature for the given country.

Supported

Supported

Supported

Sender ID preserved
In some countries sender IDs for certain sender types are not preserved and are changed for compliance and/or deliverability reasons. In these countries mobile subscribers will see a different ‘from sender ID’ than the one sent by you.

Yes

No

Yes

Provisioning time
Provisioning is the process of getting the sender ID approved and registered with mobile networks (depending on country requirements). Provisioning time is how long this process takes in the given country.

N/A

N/A

8 weeks

UCS-2 support

Supported

Supported

Supported

Use case restrictions

Message delivery from a Mexican domestic long code is exclusively supported by AT&T Mexico, while messages sent to other carriers will still be delivered, albeit with random long codes. Recent regulations in Mexico stipulate that only OTP (One-Time Password) messages will be accepted. To adhere to the restrictions on long code usage, if more than nine messages are sent from the same Mexican domestic long code within a two-minute window, a sender ID rotation will be initiated to guarantee successful delivery.

Domestic customers using an International Longcode to submit their messages, should avoid mentioning any international brand names (WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, etc) in their SMS content as it could result in message filtering and blocking. In case using such international brand names in the text is required, Twilio suggests pre-registering an Alphanumeric Sender ID so that the message templates get checked and allowlisted.

SMS sent with international long codes will have the sender ID value overwritten with a random local long number or short code to ensure delivery.

Best practices

N/A


For the benefit of all our customers, these guidelines are provided to help you comply with applicable requirements and to help ensure Twilio's platform remains compliant with global telecommunications ecosystem requirements. These guidelines represent our current understanding of common compliance requirements generally applicable to Twilio and its customers, and do not constitute legal advice. By posting these guidelines, Twilio makes no assurances regarding the legal compliance of your application built using our APIs. You are expected to understand and abide by all compliance obligations applicable to your specific application. You should check these pages regularly for updates as telecommunications ecosystem requirements continue to evolve and change, and the information below may be updated or changed without notice.