diff --git a/app/celery/tasks.py b/app/celery/tasks.py
index 3f749650d..98a44c453 100644
--- a/app/celery/tasks.py
+++ b/app/celery/tasks.py
@@ -38,7 +38,8 @@ from app.dao.notifications_dao import (
     dao_update_notification,
     delete_notifications_created_more_than_a_week_ago,
     dao_get_notification_statistics_for_service_and_day,
-    update_notification_reference_by_id
+    update_notification_reference_by_id,
+    get_character_count_of_content
 )
 
 from app.dao.jobs_dao import (
@@ -240,6 +241,9 @@ def send_sms(service_id, notification_id, encrypted_notification, created_at):
                 content=template.replaced,
                 reference=str(notification_id)
             )
+            # Record the character count of the content after placeholders included
+            notification_db_object.content_char_count = get_character_count_of_content(template.replaced)
+            dao_update_notification(notification_db_object)
         except MMGClientException as e:
             current_app.logger.error(
                 "SMS notification {} failed".format(notification_id)
diff --git a/app/dao/notifications_dao.py b/app/dao/notifications_dao.py
index 9fbb8bf3e..6ca113a68 100644
--- a/app/dao/notifications_dao.py
+++ b/app/dao/notifications_dao.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import math
 from sqlalchemy import (
     desc,
     func
@@ -47,6 +48,14 @@ def transactional(func):
     return commit_or_rollback
 
 
+def get_character_count_of_content(content, encoding='utf-8'):
+    return len(content.encode(encoding))
+
+
+def get_sms_message_count(char_count):
+    return 1 if char_count <= 160 else math.ceil(float(char_count) / 153)
+
+
 def dao_get_notification_statistics_for_service(service_id):
     return NotificationStatistics.query.filter_by(
         service_id=service_id
diff --git a/app/models.py b/app/models.py
index 583e4c6dc..775c6db86 100644
--- a/app/models.py
+++ b/app/models.py
@@ -64,9 +64,7 @@ user_to_service = db.Table(
     db.Model.metadata,
     db.Column('user_id', UUID(as_uuid=True), db.ForeignKey('users.id')),
     db.Column('service_id', UUID(as_uuid=True), db.ForeignKey('services.id')),
-
     UniqueConstraint('user_id', 'service_id', name='uix_user_to_service')
-
 )
 
 
@@ -249,6 +247,7 @@ class Notification(db.Model):
     service = db.relationship('Service')
     template_id = db.Column(UUID(as_uuid=True), db.ForeignKey('templates.id'), index=True, unique=False)
     template = db.relationship('Template')
+    content_char_count = db.Column(db.Integer, nullable=True)
     created_at = db.Column(
         db.DateTime,
         index=False,
diff --git a/migrations/versions/0002_add_content_char_count.py b/migrations/versions/0002_add_content_char_count.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..95d515401
--- /dev/null
+++ b/migrations/versions/0002_add_content_char_count.py
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+"""empty message
+
+Revision ID: 0002_add_content_char_count
+Revises: 0001_restart_migrations
+Create Date: 2016-04-15 12:12:46.383782
+
+"""
+
+# revision identifiers, used by Alembic.
+revision = '0002_add_content_char_count'
+down_revision = '0001_restart_migrations'
+
+from alembic import op
+import sqlalchemy as sa
+from sqlalchemy.sql import table, column
+
+
+def upgrade():
+    ### commands auto generated by Alembic - please adjust! ###
+    op.add_column('notifications', sa.Column('content_char_count', sa.Integer(), nullable=True))
+    ### end Alembic commands ###
+
+
+def downgrade():
+    ### commands auto generated by Alembic - please adjust! ###
+    op.drop_column('notifications', 'content_char_count')
+    ### end Alembic commands ###
diff --git a/tests/app/dao/test_notification_dao.py b/tests/app/dao/test_notification_dao.py
index b9ffc73d4..265855486 100644
--- a/tests/app/dao/test_notification_dao.py
+++ b/tests/app/dao/test_notification_dao.py
@@ -29,7 +29,9 @@ from app.dao.notifications_dao import (
     update_notification_status_by_id,
     update_notification_reference_by_id,
     update_notification_status_by_reference,
-    dao_get_template_statistics_for_service
+    dao_get_template_statistics_for_service,
+    get_character_count_of_content,
+    get_sms_message_count
 )
 
 from tests.app.conftest import sample_job
@@ -238,7 +240,7 @@ def test_should_be_able_to_get_all_statistics_for_a_service_for_several_days(sam
         'service': sample_template.service,
         'service_id': sample_template.service.id,
         'template': sample_template,
-        'template_id': sample_template.id,
+        'template_id': sample_template.id
     }
 
     today = datetime.utcnow()
@@ -1000,3 +1002,31 @@ def test_get_template_stats_for_service_returns_no_result_if_no_usage_within_lim
 def test_get_template_stats_for_service_with_limit_if_no_records_returns_empty_list(sample_template):
     template_stats = dao_get_template_statistics_for_service(sample_template.service.id, limit_days=7)
     assert len(template_stats) == 0
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "content,encoding,expected_length",
+    [
+        ("The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog", "utf-8", 44),
+        ("深", "utf-8", 3),
+        ("'First line.\n", 'utf-8', 13),
+        ("\t\n\r", 'utf-8', 3)
+    ])
+def test_get_character_count_of_content(content, encoding, expected_length):
+    assert get_character_count_of_content(content, encoding=encoding) == expected_length
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "char_count, expected_sms_fragment_count",
+    [
+        (159, 1),
+        (160, 1),
+        (161, 2),
+        (306, 2),
+        (307, 3),
+        (459, 3),
+        (460, 4),
+        (461, 4)
+    ])
+def test_sms_fragment_count(char_count, expected_sms_fragment_count):
+    assert get_sms_message_count(char_count) == expected_sms_fragment_count