What is 10DLC?
The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA), in conjunction with wireless service providers, adopted "Messaging Principles and Best Practices" as an industry standard to protect consumers from robo-texts or unwanted messages, particularly from high-volume messaging traffic. With this intent in mind, the industry made a distinction in the handling of "consumer" Person to Person (P2P) and "Non-Consumer" Application to Person (A2P) messages via 10 Digit Long Code (10DLC).
A business line with a local area code, or 10 Digit Long Code, is now considered a carrier-sanctioned messaging channel to communicate with consumers, thereby classifying business lines as A2P. The CTIA defines A2P messaging as non-consumer messaging from a business, organization, or entity that uses messaging to communicate with consumers.
Therefore, all messaging traffic from your business to your consumers is considered A2P.
Who regulates it?
Beginning in 2020, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and other major mobile network operators (MNOs) began launching their own 10DLC programs designated for business-to-consumer (A2P) messaging over local phone numbers. These programs were created by following CTIA guidelines with the intention of stopping unwanted messages to consumer devices.
Unlike other messaging compliance mandates that are regulated by the FCC, the 10DLC initiative is exclusively regulated and managed by the major MNOs. The MNOs have appointed The Campaign Registry (TCR) to manage 10DLC registration, with the requirement that each business organization who wants to send text messages must register a Brand and Campaign with TCR.
Effective November 1st, 2021, the major MNOs and TCR implemented their A2P/10DLC initiatives, including the enforcement of penalty fines for not following their guidelines. To avoid these steep penalties for each violation occurrence, 10DLC registration is now required for all SMS-enabled number messaging.
10DLC terminology
- 10DLC
- 10 Digit Long Code: a local long code number approved for A2P (application-to-person) texting.
- Brand
- The company or entity initiating messages to the consumer.
- Campaign
- A campaign describes the intended goal or use case of the messages.
- The Campaign Registry (TCR)
- The third-party central hub designated by AT&T and T-Mobile for registering A2P 10DLC messaging campaigns.
- Direct Connect Aggregator (DCA)
- A company that has a direct connection to a Mobile Network Operator (MNO) gateway and transmits messages on behalf of its customers or "content providers".
Common questions
I don't do marketing "campaigns", so why am I registering?
When it comes to 10DLC, "campaign" is simply a word used to describe the reason a business has for messaging its end users.
Does 10DLC apply to all phone numbers?
Yes, it applies to all DIDs intending to send outbound SMS/MMS. This does not include toll-free numbers, which require a different verification process.
What can be done for a business that legitimately uses more than 49 SMS enabled numbers?
If your business requires more than 49 SMS-enabled numbers, consider creating separate campaigns per department, location or use case, making sure each campaign description specifies the address or use case. It is also worth reviewing whether you genuinely need more than 49 numbers, and the associated SMS usage, to determine if additional campaigns are warranted.
Why does it take so long to get a campaign set up sometimes?
Setting up 10DLC involves multiple steps and a manual review process. Combined with delayed compliance from other providers, this has led to a surge in registrations and longer queues.
Why do I need to have a Privacy Policy?
10DLC guidelines require that all campaigns have a privacy policy that is easily accessible and explicitly confirms you do not share or sell mobile opt-in data to third parties.