Skip to content
Prices in INR (₹)
AdelSocial Logo

What is bulk SMS?

How it works, what it costs, and the registration nobody mentions until you are late

Technically it is unremarkable: your software hands a list of numbers and a message to a gateway, and the gateway hands them to the mobile operators. What makes bulk SMS complicated is never the sending. It is the registration.

Get Started

Quick Consultation

Let's Talk
Fill out the form to start a conversation.

Starting at ₹9,999 + GST

Chat on WhatsApp
  • ✓ Free consultation & fixed quote
  • ✓ Dedicated project manager
  • ✓ GST invoice · secure payment

Quick answer

Bulk SMS is sending the same text message to many mobile numbers at once from software rather than a phone, usually through a gateway connected directly to mobile operators. It is used for one-time passwords, order and delivery updates, payment reminders and promotions. In India it costs roughly ₹0.12 to ₹0.22 per message and requires DLT registration of your sender header and every content template before a single message will be delivered.

Almost every country now controls who is allowed to appear as the sender of a message. India runs the strictest version: your company, your sender header and every content template must be registered on the TRAI DLT platform, and a message that does not match a registered template is rejected outright rather than delayed. Singapore labels unregistered senders "Likely-SCAM" on the recipient's handset. The United States does not permit brand-name senders at all — you register a number instead. Oman requires promotional senders to begin with the letters AD.

The second thing that catches people is encoding. A message in Latin script fits 160 characters per segment. The moment it contains Hindi, Arabic, Bangla, Chinese or Tamil it encodes as UCS-2 and a segment holds 70 characters, so the same sentence costs two or three times as much to send.

The third is the split between transactional and promotional. They run on different routes at different prices, and mixing them is why OTPs sometimes arrive four minutes late.

₹9,999

Starting price

Get in Touch

Ready to start your what is bulk sms project? Contact us today!

AdelSocial Technologies (OPC) Private Limited

115/3 Gautam Nagar, New Delhi 110049, India

Email: info@adelsocial.com

Phone: +91 97739 26687

WhatsApp: Chat with us

Let's Talk
Fill out the form to start a conversation.

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

Four things make up most of the volume: one-time passwords and login codes, order and delivery updates, payment and renewal reminders, and promotional campaigns. The first three are transactional and reach anyone; promotional messages require consent and, in most countries, must stay inside set hours.

In India, roughly ₹0.12 to ₹0.16 per promotional message and ₹0.16 to ₹0.22 for transactional and OTP, excluding GST. Internationally it ranges from about ₹0.55 per message in the United States to ₹4.80 in Australia. The destination country, the message category and the script all move the price.

In most countries, yes, though what you register differs. India requires DLT registration of your entity, sender header and every content template. The Gulf states require sender ID registration with each operator. Singapore requires registration in the national SSIR. The UK and South Africa require no registry but enforce consent law strictly. The United States has no alphanumeric sender at all and requires 10DLC number registration instead.

The name the recipient sees instead of a phone number — six characters in India, up to eleven in most of the Gulf. It has to be registered before it will be delivered, and an unregistered one is either blocked, replaced with a generic ID, or in Singapore's case labelled as a likely scam.

160 in GSM-7, which covers Latin script. 70 in UCS-2, which is what any message containing Hindi, Arabic, Bangla, Chinese, Tamil or an emoji uses. Longer messages are split into segments and billed per segment, so a 150-character Hindi message is three segments, not one.

For transactional messages, yes and there is no real alternative — SMS reaches every handset with no app and no opt-in required. For marketing it depends on the market: where WhatsApp penetration is high and conversation rates are low, WhatsApp usually converts better for the same money.

More Bulk Messaging Solutions Services

Bulk WhatsApp Messaging

Reach thousands of customers instantly with our powerful WhatsApp marketing platform.

Learn More →

Bulk SMS Marketing

Reach thousands of customers instantly with our reliable and cost-effective SMS solutions.

Learn More →

Bulk Email Marketing

Reach thousands of customers instantly with our reliable and cost-effective email marketing solutions.

Learn More →

Transactional Messaging

Deliver timely, critical messages to keep customers informed.

Learn More →

Analytics & Reporting

Transform your data into actionable insights with comprehensive analytics and reporting.

Learn More →

Integration Services

Seamlessly connect your business systems and applications.

Learn More →
International SMS Gateway overview →

Rates, regulations and operator details on this page were last reviewed on . Regulations change — if something here is out of date, tell us and we will fix it.

WhatsApp