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 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.
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
Item |
Description |
Legal company name |
The official (legal) name of your business |
DBA (Doing Business As) or Brand name |
If brand name is different from legal name |
Country of registration |
Country where your business is registered |
Tax ID/Employer Identification Number (EIN) |
Companies based outside the US should provide a business identification number for their country |
Website URL |
URL of your company website |
Company address |
Physical address of your company |
Type of company |
Individual • Private Company • Publicly Traded Company • Charity or Non-Profit Organisation |
If public company: stock symbol |
|
If public company: stock exchange |
|
Business Vertical |
Agriculture • Communication and Mass Media • Construction and Materials • Education • Energy and Utilities • Entertainment • Financial • Gambling Lottery • Government • Healthcare • Hospitality and Travel • Insurance • Manufacturing • Non-Government Organization (NGO) • Real Estate • Retail • Information Technology |
Contact details |
Name, email and mobile number for representative |
Campaign Brief
Item |
Description |
Use case |
Standard: 2FA • Account Notifications • Customer Care • Delivery Notifications • Fraud Alert Messaging • Higher Education • Marketing • Polling and Voting • Public Service Announcement • Security Alert • Demo accounts Special: Carrier Exemptions • Charity • Conversational Messaging • Sweepstakes • Emergency • Social • Political |
Campaign name |
|
Campaign description |
How will you use the 10DLC? |
Sample message |
A maximum of 5 samples can be provided |
Campaign attributes - Subscriber opt-in Y/N |
Are you collecting and processing consumers opt-in? For most informational alerts and promotional SMS programs, the end-user must give express permission before a business sends them a text message. End-users may give permission over text, on a form, on a website, verbally, or written permission. You may be requested to provide proof of opt-in mechanism. |
Campaign attributes - Subscriber opt-out Y/N |
Are you collecting and processing consumers opt-out? For most use cases, businesses must ensure that end-users have the ability to opt-out of receiving messages at any time. It can be supported via different mechanisms, including phone call, email, or text. Example: end-user replies with keyword STOP to unsubscribe. Then, the content provider sends a final message to confirm that the end-user was unsubscribed and no further messages will be sent. You may be requested to provide proof of opt-out mechanism. |
Campaign attributes - Subscriber help Y/N |
Have you implemented message reply providing consumers on how they can contact the content provider for customer care? Example: end-user replies with HELP for support. Customer care requires a toll-free number or email. You may be requested to provide proof of help mechanism. |
Campaign attributes - Embedded link Y/N |
Is there a URL in your message content? Public URL shorteners are not accepted. |
Campaign attributes - Embedded phone Y/N |
Are you using a phone number within your messages other than the required HELP contact phone number? |
Campaign attributes - Number pooling Y/N |
Are you using multiple 10DLC instead of a single number? |
Campaign attributes - Age gated Y/N |
For age-gated content. Example: an end-user is asked to put in their date of birth or otherwise represent their age before subscribing to an age-restricted messaging program. Please note that Messaging programs with SHAFT content (sex, hate speech, alcohol, firearms, and tobacco) are not allowed on any carrier network. |
Campaign attributes - Direct lending Y/N |
Is it related to money lending or loan arrangements? |
Campaign attributes - Affiliate marketing Y/N |
Is affiliate marketing being used or has it been used in the construction of this messaging program? |
Associated 10DLC for your use case |
|
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
In order to set the 10DLC up for messaging, please follow the below steps:
- Gather the information regarding both your Brand Registration as well as your Campaign Brief as outlined above.
- If you have multiple Campaigns, choose and note down which 10DLC will be used for each of your Campaigns.
- When you have the above information ready, you can apply for registration by completing this application form.
- You will receive an invoice for the registration costs. Once we have received payment we will proceed with the next step.
- 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.
- 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:
Brand Registration |
Any brand which is currently not registered through MessageBird at the Campaign Registry |
US$ 4 one-off |
Use Case Registration |
Registration fee per declared messaging use case |
US$50 one-off |
10DLC Use Case subscription fee |
Monthly cost applied to each active use case |
US$10 - billed US$120/year. MessageBird requires 12-month minimum commitment. |
Brand vetting |
Fee for manual vetting, when required per the operator |
US$ 40 one-off |
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 March 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.
CARRIER |
Required |
Carrier MMS fees |
TPS Assessment |
Launch Date |
|
Verizon |
NO |
$ .0025 /MT |
No info |
January 2020 |
|
AT&T |
YES |
|
|
Based on trust score tiers and their associated limits: |
1-Mar to 31-May 2021 |
T-Mobile & Sprint |
YES |
$0.0030 (TBC) / MT & MO |
TBC |
Based on trust score tiers and their associated limits: |
1-Mar to 31-May 2021 |
*From March 1, 2021 - MessageBird will charge pass-through carrier fees on registered and unregistered traffic to AT&T via US long code numbers. |
Verizon doesn’t require brand and use case registrations, but introduced A2P messaging on 10DLC in early 2020. The carrier pass-through fee of US$ .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:
- Aegis Mobile - Recommended
- Campaign Verify - Can be used for political use cases only
- WMC Global