Send SMS to Thailand
from $0.0110/msg

Deliver SMS to 64 million Thai mobile subscribers via Advanced Info Service (AIS), Dtac, and True Move with sub-40 ms latency and 98.8% delivery success. Pay with Bitcoin, USDT, Ethereum, Litecoin, Monero, or Solana—no ID verification, no corporate documentation, no bank accounts required. Minimum top-up is $5 USD.

Why Thai Script SMS Segments Cut Your Character Budget in Half

Thai-language SMS campaigns face a technical constraint unknown to English senders: the Thai script triggers UCS-2 encoding, which reduces the character limit per segment from 160 (GSM-7) to just 70 characters. A marketing message in Thai that reads naturally at 150 words will split across two or even three segments, doubling or tripling your per-message cost.

Consider a promotional message: "สวัสดีค่ะ! ลดราคา 50% สำหรับสินค้าทุกชิ้นวันนี้เท่านั้น เข้าชม www.example.com" (approximately 68 Thai characters). In GSM-7 encoding, this single message would fit in one segment. In UCS-2, it occupies exactly one segment, but adding just 10 more Thai characters would overflow into a second segment at 71 characters—instantly doubling cost. Most Thai businesses budget for 2–3× segment usage when launching Thai-language campaigns.

smsroute.cc's API displays segment count before sending, allowing you to optimize message length and timing. If you are sending in both English and Thai, test Thai variants first to measure actual segment consumption against your budget. The price remains fixed at $0.0110 per segment regardless of encoding, so planning ahead prevents unexpected overages.

GSM-7 vs. UCS-2 Encoding: Know Your Character Limits

All SMS messages in Thailand use one of two character encodings. GSM-7 (also called GSM-7-bit) covers standard Latin characters, digits, and common symbols: A–Z, a–z, 0–9, space, and punctuation like !, @, #, $, etc. Each GSM-7 character consumes 7 bits, allowing 160 characters per 160-byte segment. This encoding is ideal for English, Spanish, German, and French campaigns.

The moment you include Thai script—whether Thai consonants, vowels, tone marks, or ligatures—the SMS gateway switches to UCS-2 encoding. UCS-2 uses two bytes per character, reducing capacity to 70 characters per segment. Unicode emoji, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Cyrillic also trigger UCS-2. Once UCS-2 is active, all characters in the message, including Latin letters, are encoded as UCS-2; you cannot mix GSM-7 and UCS-2 in a single SMS.

Practical implication: a Thai greeting "สวัสดี" (5 Thai characters) plus an English call-to-action "Call now: " (10 English characters) = 15 characters total, but encoded as 15 UCS-2 characters. In one segment, this fits easily. Add 55 more Thai characters, and you are at 70—still one segment. At 71 characters, you are in segment two, billed as a second SMS. Plan Thai campaigns to respect the 70-character boundary, or deliberately span multiple segments for longer narratives.

Reach All Three Major Thai Operators: AIS, Dtac, True Move

Advanced Info Service (AIS): AIS commands 40% of Thailand's mobile market, making it the country's largest carrier. Headquartered in Bangkok, AIS serves predominantly urban and suburban subscribers on high-capacity networks. Direct interconnects to AIS are essential for any Thailand SMS campaign targeting broad coverage. Delivery to AIS is near-instantaneous when sender ID is registered.

Dtac (ยุคโทร): Dtac holds 33% market share and operates as the second-largest carrier. Dtac subscribers span both urban and rural areas, making Dtac a critical secondary route for nationwide reach. Dtac enforces the same quiet-hours rules and sender ID registration as AIS. Interconnects to Dtac are reliable and fast; latency is comparable to AIS.

True Move (Thai Mobile): True Move captures 27% market share and focuses on competitive prepaid offerings. Covering urban areas and secondary cities, True Move is the third-largest network. All three carriers (AIS, Dtac, True Move) together represent approximately 100% of Thailand's mobile subscribers due to market structure, ensuring full coverage when your sender ID is active on all three networks.

smsroute.cc maintains direct interconnects with all three carriers, eliminating reliance on secondary routing partners and minimizing latency. Sender ID registration is processed with all three carriers simultaneously, typically completing within 1–2 business days for standard routes.

Thailand's SMS Consent Framework: PDPA and Quiet Hours

Thailand's regulatory environment for marketing SMS is defined by two primary statutes: the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA, B.E. 2562 / 2019) and the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act (2007). Both are enforced by the NBTC (National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission), accessible at https://www.nbtc.go.th/en/.

PDPA Consent Requirements: Under the PDPA, you must obtain explicit prior written consent before sending any marketing SMS. Consent cannot be assumed from a customer's past purchase or website visit. You must clearly state the purpose of SMS communications, the frequency, and the identity of the sender. Hard opt-in is mandatory: the recipient must actively agree, not simply fail to opt out. If you are sending transactional SMS (e.g., OTP, delivery confirmations), PDPA consent may be relaxed, but marketing SMS strictly requires prior approval. Soft opt-in—where a customer's silence is treated as consent—is not recognized under Thai law.

Quiet Hours and Holiday Restrictions: The Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act strictly prohibits marketing SMS outside the hours of 09:00 to 21:00 ICT (UTC+7). No marketing SMS may be sent before 09:00 or after 21:00, on any day of the week. Additionally, no SMS should be sent on Thai national holidays (New Year, Songkran extended period, Thai Constitution Day, Coronation Day) or Buddhist holidays (Visakha Bucha, Asahna Bucha, Loy Krathong). smsroute.cc's API includes timezone handling; set your campaign schedule to respect quiet hours automatically.

Opt-Out Mechanism: Every marketing SMS must include a clear, easy opt-out method. Typically, this is a reply instruction ("Reply STOP to unsubscribe") or a clickable unsubscribe link. You are legally obligated to honor opt-out requests within 48 hours. Failure to provide opt-out or honoring opt-outs late can result in enforcement action from the regulator; the regulator has published enforcement actions against major senders that violated these provisions.

Sender ID Registration with NBTC: For premium direct routes using a registered company name as sender ID, NBTC approval may be required. Numeric sender IDs (5–11 digits) typically bypass NBTC approval and require only carrier registration (1–2 business days). Company-name sender IDs are submitted to NBTC alongside evidence of business registration and consent practices, adding 2–3 business days. smsroute.cc assists in compiling and submitting NBTC applications to expedite approval.

How to Send SMS to Thailand in Three Steps

Step 1: Create Your Account

Visit smsroute.cc and sign up with your email address. No phone verification, no identity documents, no corporate filings needed. Your account is active immediately. You will receive an API token and dashboard access right away.

Step 2: Top Up with Cryptocurrency

Transfer Bitcoin, USDT (TRC-20 preferred), Ethereum, Litecoin, Monero, or Solana to your smsroute.cc wallet address. The gateway accepts no cards, no SEPA transfers, and no bank wires. Minimum top-up is $5 USD. Your balance updates within minutes and is ready to spend on SMS.

Step 3: Send SMS via the REST API

Authenticate with your API token and POST a JSON payload containing the recipient's E.164 number, your message, and sender ID. Your recipient must be in E.164 format: +66 8X XXXX XXX or +66 9X XXXX XXX, where X is any digit. Thai numbers always have an 8 or 9 after the country code, followed by exactly 8 digits.

Example cURL request:

Example Python request:

Both requests will return a JSON response with your message ID, delivery status, segment count, and estimated cost. Messages to Thailand are sent at $0.0110 USD per segment. If your message is in Thai script and exceeds 70 characters, you will be billed for multiple segments. The API will display the segment count before charging your account, so you can optimize.

curl -X POST https://api.smsroute.cc/v1/sms/send \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "to": "+66812345678",
    "text": "Hello from smsroute.cc",
    "from": "12345"
  }'

import requests
import json

url = "https://api.smsroute.cc/v1/sms/send"
headers = {
    "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
}
payload = {
    "to": "+66812345678",
    "text": "Hello from smsroute.cc",
    "from": "12345"
}

response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, json=payload)
print(json.dumps(response.json(), indent=2))

import fetch from "node-fetch";

const apiKey = process.env.SMSROUTE_API_KEY;

const res = await fetch("https://api.smsroute.cc/v1/sms/send", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Bearer ${apiKey}`,
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    to: "+665551234567",
    from: "smsroute",
    text: "Your verification code is 384921",
  }),
});

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