SMS Length Calculation

SMS Length Calculation

The length of the SMS is calculated as per the table below:

GSM 7 Bit Alphabet

No. of Characters in SMS Content
No. of SMS Considered
160 Characters (Standard SMS)
1 SMS
306 Characters (Multi-part SMS)
(2 *153 characters)
2 SMS
453 Characters (Multi-part SMS)
(3 *153 characters)
3 SMS
612 Characters (Multi-part SMS)
(4 *153 characters)
4 SMS
765 Characters (Multi-part SMS)
(5 *153 characters)
5 SMS
918 Characters (Multi-part SMS)
(6 * 153 characters)
6 SMS
1071 Characters (Multi-part SMS)
(7 *153 characters)
7 SMS


Unicode SMS Length Calculation (Language other than English)

No. of Characters in SMS Content
No. of SMS Considered
70 Characters (Standard SMS)
1 SMS
134 Characters (Multi-part SMS)
(2 * 67 characters)
2 SMS
201 Characters (Multi-part SMS)
(3 * 67 characters)
3 SMS
268 Characters (Multi-part SMS)
(4 * 67 characters)
4 SMS
335 Characters (Multi-part SMS)
(5 *67 characters)
5 SMS
402 Characters (Multi-part SMS)
(6 * 67 characters)
6 SMS
469 Characters (Multi-part SMS)
(7 *67 characters)
7 SMS

Standard SMS of 1 SMS credit is 160 characters long which includes spaces.

Multi-part SMS Message is defined when you use or send more than 160 characters SMS message. Though SMS are counted in multiples, but the SMS Message will be delivered as one single message to the Recipient’s Mobile.

While sending SMS, GSM 03.38 Character Set is used. GSM 03.38 character set characterizes GSM 7 bit alphabet with extension table and GSM 8 bit data encoding.

When sending SMS using non-GSM 03.38 characters, the SMS gets terminated as UNICODE Message. Even if you have a single non-GSM character, the whole message gets converted as unicode message.

Basic character set: GSM 7 bit alphabet:

@£$¥èéùìòÇ'Øø'ÅåΔ_ΦΓΛΩΠΨΣΘΞ'ÆæßÉ!"#¤%&'()*=,-./0123456789:;<=>?¡ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZÄÖÑÜ'¿abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzäöñüà

Extension table characters::

|^€{}[]~

The moment you use characters such as |^€{}[]~, then it will be considered as TWO Regular Characters

For Example: When you use “Hello [Sumit] ^_^” then the total characters used are 21 with 7 bit encoding.
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