Sender ID Policy

A Sender ID is the name your recipients see as the sender of an SMS message, in place of a phone number — for example, a business sending as "MyShop" instead of a long numeric code. Because a Sender ID represents your business to every recipient, it is reviewed before it can be used.

Every Sender ID request moves through the following statuses inside Sendly:

• Draft — you are still filling in the request and have not submitted it.
• Submitted — your request has been sent to Sendly for initial review.
• Under Review — Sendly, and/or the upstream messaging partner and telecom operators, are reviewing your request and supporting documents.
• Approved — the Sender ID is active and can be used to send messages.
• Rejected — the request did not meet requirements; a reason is provided so you can correct and resubmit.
• Suspended — a previously approved Sender ID has been paused, for example due to a policy violation or a partner/regulator request.

• Typically 3–11 characters, letters and numbers only (no spaces or special characters), and cannot start with a number.
• Cannot be a generic word (for example "Info" or "Alert") or someone's personal name.
• Must reasonably identify the business sending under it, and must not impersonate another business, brand, or government entity.
• Exact character limits and rules can vary slightly by upstream messaging partner; Sendly will tell you if a partner-specific adjustment is needed.

Depending on the upstream partner and the type of Sender ID requested (transactional or promotional), you may be asked to provide some or all of the following:

• Your business's CAC Certificate of Registration (or equivalent proof of registration).
• A sample of the message(s) you intend to send under this Sender ID.
• A description of your use case and website, where applicable.
• For some partners/telecoms: a Letter of Authorisation naming the Sender ID you are requesting.

Sendly reviews what you submit and relays it to the relevant upstream partner where their own approval is required. We do not fabricate or guarantee the acceptance of any document on your behalf.

Sender ID approval ultimately depends on our upstream messaging partners and, in turn, on Nigerian mobile network operators — not on Sendly alone. Published timelines (where a partner gives one) are estimates, not commitments, and can vary by partner, by request, and by current review volume. Sendly will keep you informed of status changes we are made aware of, but cannot guarantee a specific approval date.

If a Sender ID is rejected, we will pass along any reason given to us so you can correct the issue (for example, a naming rule violation or a missing document) and resubmit. Repeated submissions that do not address the stated reason may be declined without further review.

An approved Sender ID may be suspended or revoked if it is used to violate our Acceptable Use Policy or Anti-Spam Policy, if an upstream partner or regulator requires it, or if the underlying business registration information is found to be inaccurate.

Questions about a specific Sender ID request can be raised from within your dashboard or sent to info@sendly.ng.