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SMS Guidelines for Uruguay: Compliance, Message Length, and More

Uruguay, located in South America, has specific SMS regulations that businesses and developers must adhere to when sending messages to users. Whether you are a marketer, developer, or business owner, understanding these guidelines is essential for ensuring compliance and smooth operation.

Key Locale Information

Dialing Code and Mobile Country Code

Uruguay's dialing code is +598, and its mobile country code is 748. These codes are crucial for configuring your SMS service to ensure messages are routed correctly.

ISO Code

The ISO code for Uruguay is UY, the two-character representation used internationally to identify the country.

Two-Way SMS and Number Portability

Unfortunately, two-way SMS is not supported in Uruguay, meaning users cannot reply to messages sent by your service. Additionally, number portability—the ability for users to retain their mobile numbers when switching carriers—is not available in the country.

Message Length and Concatenation

Uruguay supports concatenated messages, allowing messages that exceed the character limit for a single SMS to be split into multiple segments and reassembled on the recipient's device. However, this feature may not be supported for certain sender ID types, and the exact point where messages are split may vary depending on the character encoding used.

MMS Support

MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) is not fully supported in Uruguay. Instead, multimedia messages are converted to SMS with an embedded URL that the recipient can click to view the content.

Sending SMS to Landline Numbers

Sending SMS to landline numbers in Uruguay is not supported. Attempting to do so will result in a 400 error response (error code 21614), and the message will not be logged or charged.

Compliance Considerations

Compliance with local laws and best practices is critical when sending SMS to users in Uruguay. Here are some key considerations:

  • Opt-in Consent: Always obtain explicit opt-in consent from users before sending them any messages, especially for marketing or non-essential communications.
  • Respect Time Zones: Only send messages during the recipient's daytime hours unless the message is urgent.
  • Support HELP/STOP Messages: Ensure that your SMS campaigns support responses like HELP or STOP in the recipient's local language.
  • Do-Not-Call Registries: Avoid sending messages to users listed on do-not-call or do-not-disturb registries.

By adhering to these compliance guidelines, you can avoid legal complications and ensure a positive user experience.

Conclusion

Sending SMS to Uruguay involves understanding several important factors, such as the lack of two-way SMS support, message concatenation, and compliance with local laws. By following these guidelines, you can optimize your SMS campaigns for success in Uruguay.

For more detailed information, you can refer to Uruguay's official telecommunications regulations.