Guidelines

Kuwait (KW)

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

Locale Summary

Locale name

Kuwait

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

KW

Region

Middle East & Africa

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.

419

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

+965

Guidelines

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

No

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 Characters

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.

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, particular 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.

Required

Required

Not Supported

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

Required
Learn more

Required
Learn more

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

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.

4 weeks

4 weeks

N/A

UCS-2 support

Supported

Supported

Use case restrictions

Include opt-in and opt-out instructions for all promotional and marketing messages.

Promotional Sender IDs must contain the letters "AD" 

The following content is strictly prohibited:

  • Political
  • Gambling
  • Adult
  • SPAM

SMS message delivery to numbers registered in the Do-Not-Disturb (DND) registry is not supported.

Include opt-in and opt-out instructions for all promotional and marketing messages.

Promotional Sender IDs must contain the letters "AD" 

The following content is strictly prohibited:

  • Political
  • Gambling
  • Adult
  • SPAM

SMS message delivery to numbers registered in the Do-Not-Disturb (DND) registry is not supported.

Sender ID Registration is required in Kuwait. Messages submitted without a pre-registered Sender ID will be delivered on a best effort basis

Best practices

N/A

N/A

Twilio strongly suggests registering an alphanumeric Sender ID in Kuwait

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.

Not Supported

Not Supported

Not Supported

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

---

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.

---

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.

N/A

N/A

N/A

UCS-2 support

N/A

Supported

N/A

Use case restrictions

N/A

Numeric sender ID towards the network Viva Kuwait would be rejected as it is not supported by the mobile operator and messages submitted with generic alphanumeric sender ID is likely to fail. 

Numeric sender ID to other networks in Kuwait would be overwritten with generic alphanumeric sender ID outside the Twilio platform and delivery would be attempted on best effort basis only.

SMS message delivery to numbers registered in the Do-Not-Disturb (DND) registry is not supported.

N/A

Best practices

N/A

Twilio strongly suggests registering an alphanumeric Sender ID in Kuwait

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.