Information about SMS messages to Mexico

Main operators (OMR)

Operators who offer their services under their own network.

Telcel, Movistar, AT&T México.

Virtual operators (OMV)

Operators that through an agreement use another operator's own network.

Aló, Bueno Cell, Soriana Móvil, FreedomPop, Unefon, Weex Flash Mobile, QBOCEL, Maxcom, Megacable, Toka Móvil, Simpati Mobile, Her Mobile, Six, Chedraui, Virgin Mobile, Simplii, Cierto, Maz Tiempo, Lycamobile.

Marketshare

Market share of cell phone operators in the country.

Telcel - 62,5%
Movistar - 21,2%
AT&T - 14,8%
MVNOs - 1,5%
* https://www.telesemana.com/panorama-de-mercado/mexico/

LabsMobile coverage

100%

Population

128 millions of people.

Subscribers or users

Number of cell phone lines or subscribers. Cell lines per inhabitant.

90 million mobile subscribers.
Mobile penetration: 70%
0,7 mobile lines per person.

Country code or prefix

+52

Mobile phone format

Valid format of how the country's cell phone numbers are or should be.

Prefix + 1 + (10 digits)
The first number must be a 1 followed by the city code and the cell phone number. In total there must be 11 digits plus the Mexico prefix (52).
Examples: 5216531300423, 5216864053601, 5216531071623.

Concatenated SMS messages

The operators and telephony network support messages with a capacity greater than 160 characters.

Yes

Unicode SMS messages

Operators and telephony network support Unicode messages (UCS2) that can include any character, symbol or emoticon. They have a capacity of 70 characters.

Yes

Certified SMS messages

The operators and telephony network support the sending of certified SMS with legal validity. By sending this type of message you get a certificate of delivery and content. The certificate is valid in any legal or administrative process.

Yes

2-way service (sending/receiving)

Possibility of contracting a number for receiving SMS messages and that this number appears as the sender in messages sent for two-way communication.

Availability of dedicated virtual numbers with local fixed number format. It is necessary to make a request to support@labsmobile.com. With these dedicated virtual numbers it is possible to send bidirectional (send/receive) and to register the Google Verified SMS service.

Sending URLs

Ability to send links in the text of the SMS message. LabsMobile platform provides the functionality of shortening urls and monitoring the clicks made on these links.

Yes

Route type

Quality and performance of the route: Direct/1 Hop/Indirect/Wholesale.

Direct to all operators. This means the highest quality, reliability and minimum delivery time.

Sender type

Default sender on all sendings: Shortcode/Longcode/Toll Free/ etc.

Random longcode with local fixed format. With option of dedicated longcode numbers or with a shared 5-digit shortcode on request.

Dynamic sender

Feature that each sending can contain a different sender and chosen by the emissary.

No. The regulation and operators in Mexico do not allow this provision.

Alphanumeric sender

Possibility of sending senders with any character or digit with a maximum of 11 characters.

No

Sender pre-registration

Need to register senders prior to sendings.

No

Supported traffic type

Transactional or promotional.

Transactional/promotional.
There is the possibility of requesting an exclusive account of transactional traffic that will have a priority in the processing time and delivery of messages.

Delivery confirmation type

Delivery of SMS messages confirmation: device or network.

Network delivery confirmations. The local operator responsible for delivery accepts the message as valid and is responsible for delivering the message.

LabsMobile Support

LabsMobile customer support resources when creating a user account.

Without aditional costs. Included in the price of the messages.
LabsMobile offers the following support channels:
- Commercial and technical issues in the online chat (14x5 hours) that you can find in our website and WebSMS application.
- Support Center during 24h 365 days a year. Especially for incidents, account settings and urgent or technical questions. Accessible from the account itself or from support@labsmobile.com.

WebSMS

Management, shipping and monitoring web application.

Without aditional costs. Included in the price of the messages.
Tools and applications adapted to the numbering of the country are included, such as:
- Import only valid mobile numbers, discarding duplicates, landlines and numbers with invalid format.
- Individual sending or campaigns with revision and warning of invalid numbers.
- Updating of groups or databases discarding invalid numbers or that have generated errors in previous shipments.
More information about WebSMS functionalities at https://www.labsmobile.com/en/websms-application.

API & Docs

Integration of the LabsMobile platform with any environment, application or platform.

Without aditional costs. Included in the price of the messages.
More info about the LabsMobile API at: https://www.labsmobile.com/en/api-sms.

Payment methods available

- Payment by credit / debit card.
- Bank transfer to a UK entity in Mexican pesos (MXN).
- OXXO, OXXOPay
- SPEI
- Paynet
- PayPal
- Cryptocurrencies (BTC, ETH, LTC, etc.)

Other considerations

It is necessary to obtain the consent of each end user before sending any communication, especially promotional or non-essential marketing messages.

Están recomendadas las comunicaciones sólo en horas diurnas y días laborables.

Any unwanted message, attempted fraud or any misuse of the SMS channel is strictly prohibited.
We have filters and the traffic sent is constantly and automatically monitored. In case of detecting any illegal sending, the account will be blocked and all the data and information of the account will be sent to the corresponding authorities.
LabsMobile is firmly committed to making SMS a useful and efficient channel for issuers. and final recipients. In addition to preserving SMS communications free of fraud and bad practices.

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WebSMS application

All management, configuration and SMS sending services in a single web portal

  • Dashboard - Welcome Page

  • Import contacts

  • Send bulk SMS to groups

  • Campaign management

  • Send SMS individually

  • Campaign and message statistics

  • Historical or message finder

  • Status and information of the messages sent

  • Available web landing templates

  • Editor to personalize web landings

  • Credit Purchase

SMS pricing

Packs of
SMS to SMS
Packs of
SMS to SMS
Packs of more than
SMS

All inclusive: delivery confirmation, statistics, web landings, shortening urls, etc.

Payment methods: OXXO, Carnet, SPEI, PayPal, Cryptocurrencies, local and international debit and credit cards.

Direct routes and maximum reliability that guarantee delivery in a few seconds.

Choose your custom pack or recharge from 667 SMS.

International coverage. Compatible with all mobile operators in more than 250 countries.

Support included: Account Manager, WhatsApp support, ticketing, email, tutorials, etc.

Unlimited use without cost of the web portal WebSMS for managing and sending SMS campaigns.

Unlimited use without cost of our API integration with any application or software.

Try our FREE platform without entering your data or credit card.

API SMS

Send messages from your software

Integrate our platform and add to your applications the benefits of SMS communication. It's easy and fast!

Our technicians are available to support you and you have all the documentation and resources online: http/JSON, code examples, code libraries, etc.

More info about our API

Personalized and efficient support

We are always by your side

As a user you will have access to the following support channels:

  • Chat (14x5): live assistance from one of our agents, accessible from labsmobile.com and WebSMS.
  • Support Center (24x7): ticketing to resolve any question or issue. Accessible from support@labsmobile.com, WebSMS or FAQs.
  • Online resources: tutorials, FAQs, blog SMS Marketing, etc.
  • Premium Support: phone support, priority support and personalized consulting. For high volume accounts or under contract.
More info about our Support

What are you waiting for?

Thousands of companies and organizations already trust LabsMobile.

Here you will find all the necessary data to create the best SMS campaigns in Mexico. In addition to giving you the most updated information possible in LabsMobile platform and its main features.

SMS sending platform to Mexico

LabsMobile is a great platform to send SMS as it reaches every client in Mexico because of its:

  • Reliability and quality of delivery
  • Great prices
  • Every feature included
  • Personalized customer support

LabsMobile offers coverage of the main cellphone operators like Telcel, Movistar, AT&T Mexico and it's possible to send SMS to clients of other virtual operators in Mexico that don't have their own network like Aló, Bueno Cell, Soriana Móvil, FreedomPop, Unefon, Weex Flash Mobile, QBOCEL, Maxcom, Megacable, Toka Móvil, Simpati Mobile, Her Mobile, Six, Chedraui, Virgin Mobile, Simpli, Cierto, Maz Tiempo, or Lycamobile.

When we talk about LabsMobile coverage for Mexico we need to highlight that it's 100% safe, without any obstacle when sending SMS to any client or database.

Most frequent uses of SMS in Mexico

In México, the uses of SMS are very similar to those of the rest of the world, as when it comes to communicating with clients this is one of the most effective methods to reach them.

  • Use of transactional messages. Notifications are one of the main uses of SMS. For example, these are alerts of deliveries or purchases people did, or medical appointment reminders.
  • Collections or payments. These are due date reminders or direct links to payment methods.
  • For marketing. The uses in marketing are another highlight. We talk about coupons, limited offers, stock clearance offers, invitations to events, etc. In this type of messages, it is worth taking a look at LabsMobile's Landing pages or their attached files such as websites, images, webSMS landings, or other documents that exceed the 160 character limit of SMS.
  • Satisfaction polls. This type of polls are a great help to obtain valuable information from clients.
  • Actions in giveaways. SMS are also frequently used to participate in different raffles and giveaways.
  • Bank alerts. Bank alerts can also be included within the transactional functions of SMS, but as they have so many features, we decided to place them here. These are useful to inform people about their purchase, order, or payment. It's also useful if people have started a bank transfer or any type of transaction.

Valid format when sending SMS to mexican smartphones and other characteristics

The valid format of cellphone numbers in Mexico is: Prefix + 1 + (10 dígits).

The first number must be a 1 followed by the city code and the cellphone number. In total, there must be 11 digits plus the national prefix (52).

For example, 5216531300423, 5216864053601, 5216531071623.

Concatenated messages are linked SMS. Usually, an SMS has 160 characters but if it's concatenated it can be linked, generating much longer messages. Mexican operators allow for longer messages than 160 characters. This is important as it enables you to transmit more information and in a more structured way.

The phone network in Mexico supports Unicode messages or UCS2, where you can include other symbols, accents, or emojis. They allow for any character, which means you can accent your SMS messages, too. It's important to note that these messages have a lower capacity: only 70 characters.

Send SMS to México with the maximum quality guarantee: certified messages.

Certified SMS are messages that have legal validity just like a burofax. In Mexico, you can send certified messages through SMS and most operators in the country admit them. When sending this type of message through SMS you obtain a delivery certificate of the message and the content. The received certificate is valid in any administrative or legal process.

If you want to know the price of this service, please contact us at info@labsmobile.com.

The two-way service in Mexico is not possible. This service means to be able to send and receive SMS at the same time. So, you cannot hire a number to receive corporate SMS and it's not possible either to appear as the sender to get bidirectional communication.

Routes and types of routes in Mexico to send URLs

Routes are channels of transmission of SMS. In LabsMobile, they have great quality and all of them have a direct connection with operators. This means they are highly reliable and they have a minimum time of delivery.

LabsMobile launched this spring a monitoring system of the different services it has for clients to always be informed about the platform's reliability. So, the client in Mexico can always see if there is any type of failure in the routes.

Sending URLs to Mexico through SMS is possible with LabsMobile. This service has the ability of sending links inside of a text message. LabsMobile's platform also gives you a feature that enables the shortening of URLs and the monitoring of clicks made on a link.

The sender in SMS messages to Mexico

The sender of SMS in Mexico is a Shortcode. This means that any message will be delivered with a short number of 5 or 6 digits. It won't be possible to personalize the name of the sender or to have a dynamic or alphanumeric name.

The regulations in Mexico and its operators do not allow for this feature. So, it's not possible to choose the name of the sender. Lastly, it's not necessary to pre-register your sender before sending an SMS as they are always sent with a shortcode hired by LabsMobile's route.

Supported traffic with SMS in Mexico and delivery confirmations

The allowed traffic in LabsMobile's route for Mexico is transactional or promotional.

Any type of phishing or fraud is not allowed. LabsMobile monitors automatically and manually what you send. This means that any attempt at sending spam will be penalized with the elimination and blocking of the account while notifying the authorities.

LabsMobile is firmly against spam and bad practices. That is why we ask our clients to obtain authorization from the part of clients before including them in their databases (through an opt-in).

You can also ask for an account exclusive to send transactional traffic (notifications, alerts, reminders, passwords, codes, etc) that will have priority in regards to processing time and delivery of the SMS.

Confirmation of delivery in SMS is done through a network in Mexico. This means that the local operator is responsible for the delivery and acceptance of the message as valid.

Some strategies for creating an authorized persons' list for sending SMS

If you want to create a list of authorized people or contacts to send SMS without having legal problems in Mexico, these are some of the strategies you can use:

  • Send an email asking legal authorities for this permission.
  • Make calls to clients to ask them for permission to send them SMS.
  • Create lists of people who don't authorize the sending of SMS and eliminate them from their files.
  • Creating systems of subscription from web and blog to incorporate these authorizations.
  • It's better not to buy (legal or illegal) databases for mass/bulk sendings of SMS. The damage of these actions can be very serious for the brand or company.

Remember that sending SMS is a marketing and communication strategy that is very effective but as long as you have permission to send these messages.

Payment methods in Mexico to buy SMS in the LabsMobile's platform

There are different payment methods for clients or users in Mexico. So, we make payment easy through the following methods:

  • Payment with credit or debit card
  • Bank transfer to an entity based in the UK with Mexican pesos (MXN).
  • OXXO, OXXOPay
  • SPEI
  • Paynet

LabsMobile's customer support in Mexico

LabsMobile has multiple support resources for Mexican clients. This type of support does not have additional cost, that is, it is included within the price of the messages you send.

The platform has the following channels: Chat support (web and WebSMS) during working hours and days of 8 hours 5 days a week. We also have a Support Center 24/7 available which works for issues, technical problems, account settings, urgent questions, or technical doubts. You can access it through your own account or through this email address: support@labsmobile.com

LabsMobile's WebSMS for Mexico

Our WebSMS in her web application for managing sendings SMS and their monitoring afterwards. Again, this service comes at no additional cost.

Within our WebSMS there are tools and apps adapted to the Mexican cell numbers: importing valid numbers in Mexico, eliminating duplicate ones, landlines, or non-valid formats.

You also have an available review screen to spot non-valid numbers before sending your campaigns. You can also update your groups or database to eliminate numbers that generate errors in previous sendings.

The WebSMS' features are many, so we recommend you to take a look at all of our services at https://www.labsmobile.com/en/websms-application.

Using LabsMobile's API in México

It's possible to integrate our LabsMobile SMS platform with any software or platform in Mexico with our SMS API. It's very quick and easy to integrate the platform with any environment, language or application. This does not suppose an additional cost on your side, as it's already included within our service.

Other things to consider when using SMS in México

It's necessary to have authorization or explicit consent to send an SMS to a group of people. Besides, it's advisable to have your phone number database always updated to improve the efficiency of your processes and to avoid problems when it comes to privacy or unwanted messages.

Finally, in Mexico, communications with political content are not allowed and any violation or non-compliance will be sanctioned.

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