Send SMS to Iraq
from $0.0450/msg

Send SMS to Iraq's 30 million mobile subscribers via Zain (42%), Asiacell (35%), and Ooredoo (23%). At $0.0450 USD per message, you save 40% versus Twilio's $0.0750 rate. Our network achieves 280 ms median latency and 95.2% delivery success—honest metrics for a market with variable infrastructure. No KYC at signup: register, top up with Bitcoin, USDT, Ethereum, Litecoin, Monero, or Solana (minimum $5), and send immediately. All campaigns require CMC sender-ID registration and explicit opt-in consent under Iraq's Telecom Law (Law 30/2016). Quiet hours apply: 08:00–20:00 AST Saturday–Thursday, 10:00–20:00 Friday. UCS-2 encoding for Arabic will cost 2–3× segments versus Latin. Route reliability stands at 94–96% due to regional infrastructure variability.

Why Arabic SMS Segments Cut Your Iraq Character Budget in Half

Iraq's primary language is Arabic, and SMS carrying Arabic text automatically trigger UCS-2 encoding instead of the standard GSM-7 format. This encoding switch has a direct and dramatic impact on your character budget: a GSM-7 segment holds 160 characters, but a UCS-2 segment holds only 70. For an Arabic greeting like "أهلا وسهلا بك في متجرنا الإلكتروني" (Welcome to our online store), you consume two UCS-2 segments instead of one GSM-7 segment, doubling your per-message cost.

Consider a practical example: a 150-character promotional message in Arabic ("تخفيف ٣٠٪ على جميع المنتجات هذا الأسبوع فقط — اشتري الآن وادخر") requires two UCS-2 segments (140 characters per message pair), compared to one GSM-7 segment for the equivalent English text. Multiply this across 10,000 recipients, and you are sending 20,000 segments instead of 10,000, increasing your total cost by 50% even at the same per-segment rate.

If your campaign mixes Arabic and English, keep in mind that Arabic text in any segment triggers UCS-2 encoding for the entire message. A signature line or footer in Arabic forces the whole message into UCS-2 mode. Budget for 2–3× segment volume when targeting Iraq, and always test your message segmentation using the smsroute dashboard or API before launching bulk campaigns.

GSM-7 vs. UCS-2: Why Encoding Matters for Your Iraq Budget

GSM-7 is the default encoding for Latin-alphabet SMS (English, French, German, Spanish). Each segment carries 160 characters. UCS-2 (Unicode) is required for Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, and other scripts that cannot be represented in a single 7-bit character set. UCS-2 segments are smaller—70 characters per segment—because Unicode characters require 16 bits of storage instead of 7.

When you send an SMS containing even a single Arabic character, the entire message is encoded as UCS-2. There is no mixing: it is either GSM-7 (all Latin-compatible characters) or UCS-2 (any Unicode). This means a message with a company name in Arabic and a promotional offer in English still consumes UCS-2 segments throughout. At smsroute, a UCS-2 segment to Iraq costs the same $0.0450 as a GSM-7 segment (a single segment price), but because Arabic messages require 2–3× more segments, your effective cost-per-character climbs significantly.

Our dashboard and API provide character-count warnings and segment preview before you send. Test your templates with sample Arabic text to confirm segment counts. For campaigns mixing languages, consider sending Arabic and English variants separately or reserving English-only content for GSM-7 cost efficiency.

Mobile Operators in Iraq: Market Share and Interconnect

Zain Iraq (42% market share) is the largest mobile operator, with the most extensive coverage outside Baghdad and strong 4G/3G infrastructure. Zain routes numbers on the +964 7XX XXX XXXX format. Interconnect quality is reliable, and Zain enforces CMC quiet hours and sender-ID rules consistently.

Asiacell (35% market share) is the second-largest operator, serving both urban and semi-rural areas across Iraq. Asiacell also uses +964 7XX XXX XXXX and maintains good interconnect relationships with other carriers. Delivery success on Asiacell is slightly variable during peak hours (07:00–10:00 AST and 14:00–18:00 AST) but stable overall.

Ooredoo Iraq (23% market share) primarily serves urban areas, especially Baghdad and major cities. Ooredoo uses the same +964 7XX XXX XXXX format and enforces CMC regulations. Coverage is adequate in metropolitan areas but sparser in rural regions. Interconnect latency on Ooredoo can be slightly higher during congestion events, contributing to the overall p95 latency of 550 ms across the market.

Our network routes to all three operators with equal priority and intelligent load-balancing. smsroute maintains direct interconnect agreements with each carrier, ensuring fair treatment of A2P traffic and compliance with CMC sender-ID and quiet-hour rules. All three operators require recipients to have opted in for marketing SMS; this is enforced at the operator level, so non-compliant senders risk being blacklisted across all three networks simultaneously.

Consent Framework and Regulatory Compliance in Iraq

Iraq's telecommunications regulator is the Communications and Media Commission (CMC), operating under the Telecom Law (Law 30/2016) and associated CMC Regulations. All A2P SMS senders must comply with the CMC's consent and identification rules.

Explicit opt-in consent is mandatory for all marketing SMS. You must maintain documented proof that each recipient has affirmatively agreed to receive promotional messages—a checkbox, email confirmation, or signed consent form. Transactional SMS (one-time passwords, account confirmations, order receipts) may operate under relaxed consent rules depending on operator agreements, but marketing content (newsletters, product promotions, event announcements, discount codes) is subject to strict opt-in requirements. Sending unsolicited marketing SMS violates CMC regulations and can result in sender blacklisting and operator-side blocking.

Sender-ID registration: All alphanumeric sender IDs must be pre-approved by the CMC before use. The registration process typically takes 5–7 business days, though timelines vary. You must submit your company name, use-case description, and sample messages. Once approved, your sender ID appears on recipient phones in place of a phone number, improving brand recognition and reducing spam-filter risk. Numeric sender IDs (shortcodes) follow a separate and more restrictive approval path, typically reserved for major carriers and government entities.

Quiet hours: Marketing SMS must be sent only within these windows:

• Saturday–Thursday: 08:00–20:00 AST
• Friday: 10:00–20:00 AST

Messages sent outside quiet hours may be queued, delayed, or filtered by operators as non-compliant. Transactional SMS may be exempt from quiet-hour restrictions, but always verify with your account manager. Plan campaigns around these time windows and avoid bulk sends at off-hours.

The CMC has published enforcement actions against major senders operating without proper registration or consent. Non-compliance can result in fines in the five- to seven-figure range (in Iraqi dinar), account suspension, and permanent blacklisting by operators. We recommend keeping audit trails of all consent records and checking your sender-ID approval status before launching campaigns.

How to Send SMS to Iraq in 3 Steps

Step 1: Create a Free smsroute Account

Go to smsroute.cc and click Sign Up. Enter your email and a strong password. no identity proof, no corporate registration, no SIM check registration required. Your account is active within seconds. You can immediately access the dashboard and API documentation.

Step 2: Top Up Your Account with Cryptocurrency

Pay with Bitcoin, USDT (TRC-20 preferred), Ethereum, Litecoin, Monero, or Solana. Minimum top-up is $5. No credit cards, no SEPA transfers, no bank wires. Once your on-chain payment confirms, your account credits appear within 1–2 minutes. All payments are non-reversible.

Step 3: Send SMS via API, Dashboard, or CSV

Format recipient numbers in E.164 international format: +964 7XX XXX XXXX (no leading 0). Ensure your sender ID is registered with the CMC and all recipients have opted in. Use the REST API (examples below), the smsroute web dashboard (paste numbers and compose), or bulk-upload a CSV file. Monitor delivery reports in real time in your account.

Curl Example: Send SMS via REST API

Python Example: Send SMS via SDK

Both examples send a message in Arabic. The smsroute API auto-detects UCS-2 encoding and calculates segment counts. Check the response for delivery confirmation and segment count. For bulk sends, use the CSV endpoint or batch API to optimize throughput.

import os, requests

resp = requests.post(
    "https://api.smsroute.cc/v1/messages",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['SMSROUTE_API_KEY']}"},
    json={
        "to": "+9645551234567",
        "from": "smsroute",
        "text": "Your verification code is 384921",
    },
    timeout=10,
)
resp.raise_for_status()
print(resp.json())

curl -X POST https://api.smsroute.cc/v1/messages \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SMSROUTE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "to": "+9645551234567",
    "from": "smsroute",
    "text": "Your verification code is 384921"
  }'

import fetch from "node-fetch";

const apiKey = process.env.SMSROUTE_API_KEY;

const res = await fetch("https://api.smsroute.cc/v1/messages", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Bearer ${apiKey}`,
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    to: "+9645551234567",
    from: "smsroute",
    text: "Your verification code is 384921",
  }),
});

console.log(await res.json());

package main

import (
    "bytes"
    "encoding/json"
    "fmt"
    "io"
    "net/http"
    "os"
)

func main() {
    payload, _ := json.Marshal(map[string]string{
        "to":   "+9645551234567",
        "from": "smsroute",
        "text": "Your verification code is 384921",
    })

    req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST",
        "https://api.smsroute.cc/v1/messages",
        bytes.NewBuffer(payload))
    req.Header.Set("Authorization", "Bearer "+os.Getenv("SMSROUTE_API_KEY"))
    req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")

    resp, err := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
    if err != nil { panic(err) }
    defer resp.Body.Close()

    body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
    fmt.Println(string(body))
}

<?php
$apiKey = getenv('SMSROUTE_API_KEY');

$payload = json_encode([
    'to'   => '+9645551234567',
    'from' => 'smsroute',
    'text' => 'Your verification code is 384921',
], JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE);

$ch = curl_init('https://api.smsroute.cc/v1/messages');
curl_setopt_array($ch, [
    CURLOPT_POST => true,
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
        'Authorization: Bearer ' . $apiKey,
        'Content-Type: application/json',
    ],
    CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => $payload,
]);

echo curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);