SMS compliance in Malaysia

The rules that apply to business SMS sent to numbers in Malaysia, with the source for each.

Quiet hours

No statutory quiet hours identified; send promotional SMS 08:00-20:00 local time (industry best practice). Transactional/OTP 24/7.

Source: Industry practice – no official text found

Consent

Consent required; MCMC content code requires opt-in for marketing.

Source: Personal Data Protection Act 2010 (amended 2024)

Opt-out

Promotional SMS must offer a free, simple opt-out (e.g., reply STOP); honour requests promptly and suppress opted-out numbers.

Source: Operator/aggregator policy (best practice)

Prohibited content

Blocked: gambling/betting, alcohol, adult/dating, political and religious content, content offensive to public morals or Islam, phishing/fraud, unlicensed financial/crypto offers, URL shorteners.

Source: Operator content policies / national advertising law

Data protection law

Personal Data Protection Act 2010 (amended 2024). Supervisory authority: Personal Data Protection Department (JPDP).

Source: Personal Data Protection Act 2010 (amended 2024)

Sender ID rule

Alphanumeric SIDs generally not supported; messages delivered from short/long numeric codes.

Source: Operator rules (see SenderID sheet)

Other

Static short code; brand name in text; URLs and phone numbers not permitted.

Source: Regulator/operator rules

This summary is guidance, not legal advice. Last verified 23 October 2026.