Promotional calls in Saudi Arabia: hours, consent and do-not-call

Outbound campaigns in Saudi Arabia are governed by the Communications, Space and Technology Commission's (CST) Regulations for Curbing SPAM Messages and Calls — the third version was issued in October 2022. They apply to any business that calls or messages people in the Kingdom, not only to telecom operators. Here is what they mean in practice for a contact center.

This article is a summary to help you plan, not legal advice. Check the current text on the CST website and confirm your approach with your legal adviser.

1. Respect the calling hours

Promotional and awareness calls are not allowed between 10:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m., Saudi time, every day. During Ramadan a different restricted window applies — it is commonly summarised as 1:00 a.m. to noon; check the current wording before you plan Ramadan campaigns.

The safest place for this rule is the dialler itself: a campaign that simply cannot dial in the restricted window is better than a policy that relies on someone remembering it.

2. Get consent, and be able to prove it

The regulations treat promotional calls made against a person's will as spam. Ask for consent to promotional calls clearly, and keep a record of when and how each number gave it. Do not rely on a line in your terms and conditions — if a customer complains, you will need to show what they agreed to.

3. Honour "stop" quickly, everywhere

When someone asks not to be called again, add the number to your do-not-call list and check that list before every call, on every campaign. Decide whether an entry blocks only marketing, or every call — a customer may still want to hear about their own order.

4. Keep service calls and promotions apart

A call about the customer's own order, ticket or account is a service call. Keep it that way: adding an offer at the end turns it into a promotional call, with all the rules above.

5. Call from inside the Kingdom, on proper lines

Calls from parties outside the Kingdom are limited to service or personal calls, so plan promotional campaigns from inside Saudi Arabia. Use SIP trunks from a licensed provider rather than SIM-based gateways, which operators watch for and may block.

6. Record what happened

Keep the evidence together: who was called, when, from which campaign, the consent behind the call and the result. It is what lets you answer a complaint quickly — and fix a campaign before it causes one.

How Noorixa helps

Before Noorixa dials a number — from a campaign or from an agent's desktop — it checks the rules in one place: the number's do-not-call entry (for marketing, or for every call), recorded consent for promotional calls, and the hours when promotional calls are not allowed, with Ramadan hours applied in Saudi time. Service calls about the customer's own ticket, order or account are blocked only by an "all calls" entry.