United States
10 DLC
On March 1, 2021 changes to national messaging regulations came into effect in the United States with the introduction of 10DLC. 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 application-to-person (A2P) messaging and changes are meant to provide a reliable user experience, better deliverability, and higher messaging speed.
Customers must 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 can check the step-by-step guide 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 is explained below. Each 10DLC is allowed to send 30 MPS with a total volume of 200,000 messages a day, however carriers will determine the actual throughput after registration. 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 that is not permitted.
Use Cases Accepted
Standard use cases may be available shortly after the use case is registered for all qualified registered brands and does not require vetting or pre/post-approval by mobile network operators (MNO).
- 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 educational 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 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.
- Low Volume Mixed: For brands that have multiple use cases and only need very low messaging throughput. For examples, test or demo accounts, small businesses (single doctor's office, single pizza shop, and so on)
Special use cases are sensitive or critical in nature and may require vetting or pre/post-registration approval by MNOs. Requirements may vary according to each MNO.
Use cases that require post-registration approval by MNOs:
These use cases may be approved during campaign registration, but are still subject to a check done by the MNOs themselves. It is possible that your campaign is registered, but if the MNO rejects your use case, you will not be able to send traffic.
- Charity: Communications from a registered charity aimed at providing help and raising money for those in need. Includes only 501c3 Tax-Exempt Organizations. This does not include religious organizations.
- Proxy: Peer-to-peer app-based group messaging with proxy/pooled numbers. Supporting personalized services and non-exposure of personal numbers for enterprise or A2P communications. This means that this use case can only be selected if you are using number masking in your communication.
- Sweepstakes: All sweepstakes and giveaways messaging.
- K-12 Education: Campaigns created for messaging platforms that support schools from grades K-12, and distance learning centres. This is not for post-secondary schools.
- Agents, franchises, local branches: Brands that have multiple agents, franchises, or offices in the same brand vertical, but require individual localized numbers per agent, location, or office.
Use cases only available for pre-vetted brands:
- Political (Election Campaigns): Part of an organized effort to influence decision making of a specific group. Available only to registered 501(c)(4/5/6) and organizations with a Campaign Verify token.
Additional Costs
Note: This information is subject to change.
T-Mobile requires brand and use case registrations. As of March 1st, 2022, T-Mobile will apply:
- T-Mobile Use Case Registration fee: US$50 one-off per registered use case.
- T-Mobile Use Case Migration fee: US$50 one-off per migrated use case.
- Additional carrier pass-through fees are added to EnableX's outbound rates.
- Messaging blocking is expected for any unregistered traffic at the operator's discretion.
AT&T requires brand and use case registrations.
- AT&T Use Case Subscription fee: cost varies based on the use case.
- Additional carrier pass-through fees are added to EnableX's outbound rates.
- Messaging blocking is expected for any unregistered traffic at the operator's discretion.
Verizon does not require brand and use case registrations.
- Additional carrier pass-through fees are added to EnableX's outbound rates.
- Messaging blocking is expected for any unregistered traffic at the operator's discretion.
- It has not communicated any plans to limit the throughput for 10DLC use cases.
Both U.S. Cellular and TextNow do not require brand and use case registrations.
- Additional carrier pass-through fees are added to EnableX's outbound rates.
- Messaging blocking is expected for any unregistered traffic at the operator's discretion.
- It has not communicated any plans to limit the throughput for 10DLC use cases
Additional Registration Charges
US operators have introduced additional charges for brand and use case registrations, which EnableX passes along to its customers, in USD:
| Brand Registration Fee | Applicable to any brand that is currently not registered through EnableX at the Campaign Registry. | US$ 4 one-off (also applicable for brand re-submission) |
| Brand Secondary Vetting Fee | Fee for brand vetting. Secondary vetting is an additional brand review performed by the carriers, which may allow for higher throughput. | US$ 40 one-off (optional) |
| T-Mobile Use Case Registration Fee | T-Mobile migration fee per migrated 10DLC and use case. | US$50 one-off (applicable from March 1st, 2022) |
| 10DLC Use Case Subscription Fee | Monthly cost applied to each active use case | US$10 - billed US$120/year. EnableX requires a 12-month minimum commitment. Valid for most use cases. Low volume mixed US$2 - billed US$24/year. EnableX requires a 12-month minimum commitment. Charity - US$3 - billed US$36/year. EnableX requires a 12-month minimum commitment. Emergency - US$5 - billed US$60/year. EnableX requires a 12-month minimum commitment (not supported at this moment). Sole Proprietor - US$0.75 - billed US$9/year. EnableX requires a 12-month minimum commitment (not supported at this moment). |
| T-Mobile Special Business Review fee | The following use cases qualify for special review request: Number Pooling: When your use case requires 50 or more 10DLC numbers associated with a given brand. Higher Daily Limit: A daily maximum volume exceeding 200,000 messages or more per brand. |
Not Applicable |
Additional Carrier Pass-Through Fees
There is additional Carrier Pass-through* fees per message on top of EnableX message rates. These are being finalised by the operators and are subject to change.
Note: These additional costs will be added to the current EnableX message rates and monthly number rental fees. Message charges will continue to be: Base EnableX message rate + Surcharge to destination carrier = Total message cost.
| US Carrier Name | SMS / Carrier fee in USD | MMS / Carrier fee in USD | Message Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| T-Mobile USA / Metro PCS / Sprint | $.0030 | $.0100 | Outbound and Inbound |
| T-Mobile USA / Metro PCS / Sprint Unregistered Traffic | $.0040 | $.0130 | Outbound and Inbound |
| AT&T | $.0020 | $.0035 | Outbound only |
| AT&T Unregistered Traffic | $.0040 | $.0050 | Outbound only |
| Verizon | $.0025 | $.0050 | Outbound only |
| U.S. Cellular | $.0050 | $.0100 | Outbound only |
| TextNow | $.0020 | $.0020 | Outbound only |
Note: Unregistered traffic via 10DLC will continue to be subject to P2P spam policies and messaging blocking is expected for any unregistered traffic at the operator's discretion. From March 1st, 2022 registration for A2P traffic via 10DLC is mandatory.
FAQ
What Information Do I Need to Gather?
In order to set up your 10DLC correctly, you need to register your brand as well as create a campaign brief. Your brand is the entity for which you are registering. Therefore, you need to register each use case within your brand as a campaign brief. EnableX expects the following information 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 of a representative. |
Campaign Brief (Use Case)
| 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, end-users must express permission before a business sends them a text message. End-users may provide permission over text, on a form, on a website, verbally, or as a written permission. You may be requested to provide the proof of the 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 calls, email, or text. For example, an 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 the 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? For example, an end-user replies with HELP for support. Customer care requires a toll-free number or email. You may be requested to provide proof of the 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? Only required for specific (special) use cases. |
| Campaign attributes - Age gated Y/N | For age-gated content. For 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: If you are you an existing EnableX customer who is migrating long-codes to the 10DLC standard, then inform us which of your numbers would you like to associate with each use case. This information can be shared via a spreadsheet if needed. For example, +1 999 999999 assigned to 2FA use case.
How Can I Set Up My 10DLC?
In order to set the 10DLC up for messaging, perform the following steps:
- Before applying for 10DLC Registration, make sure you have one (or more) dedicated 10DLC (US SMS number) linked to your account. You can buy a number in your Dashboard and learn how to buy a number .
- Gather the information regarding both your brand registration and your campaign brief as outlined in earlier topics.
- If you have multiple campaigns, choose and note down which 10DLC will be used for each of your campaigns.
- When you have this 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.
- EnableX will process your request with the regulator and keep you informed about your registration status. This process approximately takes one week of time. When your request has been approved, your use case will be assigned a Campaign ID that 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 Set Up My 10DLC If I Have a Number Pool and Shared Numbers?
Number pooling is a method for automatic allocation of numbers, which was used to facilitate message delivery before 10DLC implementation.
Number pooling is a method for automatic allocation of numbers, which was used to facilitate message delivery before 10DLC implementation. Nowadays, each 10DLC supports high throughput levels suitable for business A2P SMS messaging. In general, number pools are not needed except for specific use cases and their indiscriminate use can result in traffic blocking. We advise all EnableX customers to remove and cancel all additional numbers from the pool and select only one 10DLC per use case before starting the registration process.
Note
- Each 10DLC must always be associated with a campaign and cannot be shared among multiple brands. Shared numbers among brands are forbidden.
- Number pools for the purpose of higher throughput are not allowed nor necessary when you use a registered 10DLC. Number pools should only be used when required for business purposes. For example, in case the same campaign is used by multiple brand shop branches. If your brand requires the use of a number pool, make sure to list all your numbers that should be linked to that use case.
- You are allowed to register up to 49 numbers per use case for each brand. The allocation of 50+ numbers under the same brand and use case is subject to operator's review at cost.
- Note that adding more numbers does not affect the total throughput.