diff --git a/homeassistant/components/sms/const.py b/homeassistant/components/sms/const.py
index 858e53d9808..841c4bd8f89 100644
--- a/homeassistant/components/sms/const.py
+++ b/homeassistant/components/sms/const.py
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ NETWORK_COORDINATOR = "network_coordinator"
 GATEWAY = "gateway"
 DEFAULT_SCAN_INTERVAL = 30
 CONF_BAUD_SPEED = "baud_speed"
+CONF_UNICODE = "unicode"
 DEFAULT_BAUD_SPEED = "0"
 DEFAULT_BAUD_SPEEDS = [
     {"value": DEFAULT_BAUD_SPEED, "label": "Auto"},
diff --git a/homeassistant/components/sms/notify.py b/homeassistant/components/sms/notify.py
index 21b48946f55..d82e4951c00 100644
--- a/homeassistant/components/sms/notify.py
+++ b/homeassistant/components/sms/notify.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ from homeassistant.components.notify import PLATFORM_SCHEMA, BaseNotificationSer
 from homeassistant.const import CONF_NAME, CONF_RECIPIENT, CONF_TARGET
 import homeassistant.helpers.config_validation as cv
 
-from .const import DOMAIN, GATEWAY, SMS_GATEWAY
+from .const import CONF_UNICODE, DOMAIN, GATEWAY, SMS_GATEWAY
 
 _LOGGER = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -47,9 +47,10 @@ class SMSNotificationService(BaseNotificationService):
         gateway = self.hass.data[DOMAIN][SMS_GATEWAY][GATEWAY]
 
         targets = kwargs.get(CONF_TARGET, [self.number])
+        is_unicode = kwargs.get(CONF_UNICODE, True)
         smsinfo = {
             "Class": -1,
-            "Unicode": True,
+            "Unicode": is_unicode,
             "Entries": [{"ID": "ConcatenatedTextLong", "Buffer": message}],
         }
         try: