Philippines (PH)

Locale name

Philippines

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

PH

Region

Asia

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.

515

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

+63

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 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.

Sender ID Compliance

Sender ID Registration is required in the Philippines. Starting on April 07, 2025, messages with unregistered Sender IDs will be blocked. To continue sending messages, you must use a registered Alphanumeric Sender ID.

Sender IDs containing the words “TEST”, “MESSAGE”, “SMS”, and/or permuations based on those words are not allowed. Sender IDs that portray other networks as “SMART” and/or “SUN” and/or permuations based on those words — for example, “SMARTMONEY”, “SUNCELL”, “SMARTLIVE”, “SMARTLOAD”, etc.) are not allowed.

Content Compliance Requirements for SMS Delivery to the Philippines

You may send commercial and promotional advertisements, surveys, and other broadcast/push messages only to subscribers who have specifically opted-in to receive such messages. PTEs and content providers shall also provide methods for subscribers who have opted-in to opt-out in the future. Regular opt-out instructions must be sent once per week for daily subscriptions or once per month for weekly subscriptions.

Spam messages are those which promote or offer financial loans, real estate, products and services, and sometimes relate to elections and other political messages. Sending firearms, adult content, money/loan, political, religious, controlled substance, cannabis, tobacco, and alcohol related content is strictly prohibited.

Content related to gaming and gambling is prohibited for all offshore gaming operators. It is permitted for registered Philippine Inland Gaming Operators (PIGO) and only when it is registered.

Shortened URLs in message content are strictly not allowed, and customers sending banking related content with a URL must ensure that message templates are allow-listed. Sending a URL that is not allow-listed will result in message failure. Phone numbers in message content is also not allowed.

Delivery to M2M Numbers

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

Additional Phone Numbers and Sender ID Guidelines

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.

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.

Supported
Learn more and register via the Console

Supported
Learn more and register via the Console

Not 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

N/A

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.

2 weeks

2 weeks

N/A

UCS-2 support

Supported

Supported

N/A

Use case restrictions

Messages that appear to be person-to-person (P2P) based on their content will be filtered.

Sender IDs containing the words “TEST”, “MESSAGE”, “SMS”, and/or permuations based on those words are not allowed.

Sender IDs that portray other networks as “SMART” and/or “SUN” and/or permuations based on those words are not allowed. See above for examples.

Commercial and promotional advertisements, surveys, and other broadcast/push messages may be sent only to subscribers who have specifically opted-in to receive such messages.

Messages sent must provide methods for subscribers who have opted-in to opt-out in the future. Regular opt-out instructions must be sent once a week for daily subscriptions and once a month for weekly subscriptions.

Financial loans, real estate offers, product and service promotions, and political messages will be blocked. 

Adult content and any mention of alcohol, drugs, politics, and tobacco is prohibited.

Content related to gaming and gambling is prohibited for all offshore gaming operators. It is permitted for registered Philippine Inland Gaming Operators (PIGO) and only when it is registered.

Messages that appear to be person-to-person (P2P) based on their content will be filtered.

Sender IDs containing the words “TEST”, “MESSAGE”, “SMS”, and/or permuations based on those words are not allowed.

Sender IDs that portray other networks as “SMART” and/or “SUN” and/or permuations based on those words are not allowed. See above for examples.

Commercial and promotional advertisements, surveys, and other broadcast/push messages may be sent only to subscribers who have specifically opted-in to receive such messages.

Messages sent must provide methods for subscribers who have opted-in to opt-out in the future. Regular opt-out instructions must be sent once a week for daily subscriptions and once a month for weekly subscriptions.

Financial loans, real estate offers, product and service promotions, and political messages will be blocked. 

Adult content and any mention of alcohol, drugs, politics, and tobacco is prohibited.

Content related to gaming and gambling is prohibited for all offshore gaming operators. It is permitted for registered Philippine Inland Gaming Operators (PIGO) and only when it is registered.

N/A

Best practices

N/A

N/A

N/A

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

Supported

Not Supported

Supported

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

Supported

Not Supported

Not 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

N/A

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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

Supported

N/A

N/A

Use case restrictions

You can only use local longcodes for A2P traffic (no P2P messaging).

N/A

N/A

Best practices

N/A

N/A

N/A