Until now, bulk SMS was officially not supported by US operators when using long codes (VMNs) as the originator and messages were filtered and blocked if deemed of a bulk nature. On March 1, 2021 changes to national messaging regulations will come into effect in the United States with the introduction of 10DLC.

• What is 10DLC and what changes for me?
• What are my other options?
• What use cases are accepted?
• What information do I need to gather?
• How can I set up my 10DLC?
• How can I cancel my 10DLC subscription?
• What are other things to consider?

What is 10DLC and what changes for me?

10DLC is a local 10-digit phone number that requires campaign registration and supports throughput levels suitable for SMS campaigns - up to 30 Messages Per Second (MPS). 10DLC is sanctioned by the mobile carriers for A2P messaging and changes are meant to provide a reliable user experience, better deliverability and higher messaging speed. In the coming months, MessageBird will start registering customers for 10DLC. All current and future MessageBird customers will have to adapt to the new 10DLC requirements starting March 1, and must be registered no later than June 1, 2021.

Customers should be aware of the following changes:

• Your brands, and messaging campaigns per use case, should be registered and approved before going live in the US. You will find a step-by-step guide of what is expected of you below.
• US numbers can no longer be shared by different brands/customers. If you are sending from multiple brands, each brand will need to have their own dedicated 10DLC.
• US carriers have introduced additional charges for brand and use case registrations as well as carrier fees per message. Changes to pricing will be explained below.
• Each 10DLC will be allowed to send 30 MPS with a total volume of 200,000 messages a day, however carriers will determine the actual throughput after registration. More information on this below.
• The US regulator will have better control over message content and practices. For you to navigate this, the CTIA has a guideline with Messaging Principles and Best Practices which explains minimum requirements and forbidden practices or content.

What are my other options?

MessageBird offers several number types for sending to the US. Depending on your use case, there are different number types that might suit your company better. For more information please see here: US Number Options 

Note that in order to send SMS successfully to the United States, you must use one of the number options listed in the above article.

What use cases are accepted?

Standard Use Cases may be available shortly after the use case registration for all qualified registered Brands and do not require vetting or pre/post approval by Mobile Network Operators.

• 2FA - Any authentication, verification, or one-time passcode
• Account Notifications - Standard notifications for account holders, relating to and being about an account
• Customer Care - All customer interaction, including account management and customer support
• Delivery Notifications - Information about the status of the delivery of a product or service
• Fraud Alert Messaging - Messaging regarding potential fraudulent activity on an account
• Higher Education - Campaigns created on behalf of Colleges or Universities. It also includes School Districts and education institutions that fall outside of any "free to the consumer" messaging model
• Marketing - Any communication with marketing and/or promotional content
• Polling and voting - Requests for surveys and voting for non political arenas
• Public Service Announcement - An informational message that is meant to raise the audience's awareness about an important issue
• Security Alert - A notification that the security of a system, either software or hardware, has been compromised in some way and there is an action you need to take
• Demo accounts - Small throughput for testing and demos only. 

Special Use Cases are sensitive or critical in nature and may require vetting or pre/post registration approval by Mobile Network Operators. Requirements may vary according to each MNO.

Use cases requiring post-registration approval by MNOs

• Carrier Exemptions - Exemption by Carrier. 
• Charity - Communications from a registered charity aimed at providing help and raising money for those in need. Includes: 5013C Charity. Does not include: Religious organisations. 
• Conversational Messaging - Peer-to-peer app-based group messaging with proxy/pooled numbers. Supporting personalised services and non-exposure of personal numbers for enterprise or A2P communications.
• Sweepstakes - All sweepstakes and ‘giveaways’ messaging. 

Use cases only available for pre-approved Communications Service Providers

• Emergency - Notification services designed to support public safety / health during natural disasters, armed conflicts, pandemics and other national or regional emergencies. 
• Social - Non-commercial communication within or between closed communities. (e.g. churches communicating with parishioners). 

Use cases only available for pre-vetted brands

• Political - Part of organised effort to influence decision making of specific groups. All campaigns to be verified. Only federal campaigns. 

What information do I need to gather?

In order to set up your 10DLC correctly you will need to register your Brand as well as create a Campaign Brief. Your Brand is the entity for which you are registering; you will register each use case within your Brand as a Campaign Brief. Below you will find the information we need from you to action each request:

Brand Registration

Campaign Brief

Note: Are you a current MessageBird customer who is migrating your long-codes to the new 10DLC standard? If yes, please inform us which of your number(s) you would like to associate to each use case. This information can be shared via spreadsheet, if needed. e.g. +1 XXX XXXXXXX assigned to 2FA use case

How can I set up my 10DLC?

In order to set the 10DLC up for messaging, please follow the below steps:

1. Gather the information regarding both your Brand Registration as well as your Campaign Brief as outlined above. 
2. If you have multiple Campaigns, choose and note down which 10DLC will be used for each of your Campaigns. 
3. When you have the above information ready, you can apply for registration by completing this application form. 
4. You will receive an invoice for the registration costs. Once we have received payment we will proceed with the next step.
5. MessageBird will process your request with the regulator and keep you informed on your registration status. This process should take approximately one week. When your request has been approved your use case will be assigned a Campaign ID which is linked to the respective 10DLC. 
6. You can now start sending the registered campaign. Make sure that you are using the right 10DLC as the originator for the right campaign.

How can I cancel my 10DLC subscription?

Your 10DLC registration subscription will keep running until this is cancelled. If you are not sending traffic anymore but have not cancelled your subscription with us, you will continue to be billed. To cancel your 10DLC registration subscription, please reach out to our Support Team via this page listing the Numbers that you would like to cancel, at least one month before the end of the subscription date. 

Note that cancelling your Number subscription in our Dashboard directly will only deactivate the Number itself from your account. It will not cancel your 10DLC registration subscription; your subscription costs will keep running until these are cancelled by our support team 

What are other things to consider?

Please note below info is subject to change in the coming months, as operators are still finalising details on their side

Fees & additional charges

US operators have introduced additional charges for brand and use case registrations, which MessageBird will pass along to our customers, in USD:

Additional pass-through carrier* fees per message on top of MessageBird messaging rates will be introduced. These are being finalised by the operators and are subject to change. From May 1, 2021 - MessageBird will charge the below pass-through carrier fees on all 10DLC traffic. 

*Note: These additional costs will be added to current MessageBird messaging rates and monthly number rental fees. At this first moment, the invoices will not split the costs between MessageBird messaging fees and carrier pass-through fees. It will only show the sum of both costs. 

Operator information

Carriers are launching their A2P 10DLC capabilities with their own guidelines and on different timelines. Find below, a summary of each carrier’s requirements, surcharges and launching dates.

Verizon doesn’t require brand and use case registrations, but introduced A2P messaging on 10DLC in early 2020. The carrier pass-through fee of US$ .0025 is added to MessageBird’s MT rates. Verizon is using filters to block any traffic it deems to be a spam risk. They have not communicated plans to limit throughput for 10DLC use cases, but you can expect around 30 messages per second.

AT&T requires brand and campaign registrations. The process is now in soft launch. All customers sending messages to the US will have to register their brand’s legal entity and messaging campaign per use case. Registration is starting March 1, and everyone must be registered no later than June 1, 2021. The full launch is expected on June 1, 2021. From March 1, 2021 unregistered use cases will incur higher messaging pass-through fees and risk being blocked after June 1, 2021. . The carrier pass-through fee will change based on the use case per the table above and it will be added to MessageBird’s MT rates. AT&T will give each use case a “message class” after the 10DLC use case registration is submitted. A specific throughput range is assigned to each class.

T-Mobile requires brand and campaign registrations. Indication of pass-through fees on both MT and MO messages has been given but is still to be confirmed. T-Mobile allocates throughput at the brand level and it has as a daily limit. So, if the MessageBird customer has more than one use case running, the daily quota is split across those use cases. Brand vetting* score is determined after the use case registration is submitted.

Vetting

0–24 vetting score receives a 2,000 daily messaging quota

25–49 vetting score receives a 10,000 daily messaging quota

50–74 vetting score receives a 40,000 daily messaging quota

75–100 vetting score receives a 200,000 daily messaging quota

*If a brand wants to improve their vetting score, they need to be third-party vetted. There are three vetting partners:

1. Aegis Mobile - Recommended
2. Campaign Verify - Can be used for political use cases only
3. WMC Global