Important Information About New Industry Approach to Text Messaging
Action May Be Required
Introduction
As part of the U.S. wireless service industry’s efforts to combat spam and improve the delivery of legitimate text messages, businesses that send text messages to US ten-digit phone numbers will be required to register the phone numbers they are using for their SMS messaging.
In 2018, SMS (Text Messaging) was reclassified as an informational service, granting US mobile carriers the ability to regulate how SMS may be sent, what type of content may be sent, and implement and manage fees for different types of SMS. In 2021, US mobile carriers including Verizon, AT&T, and T-mobile reclassified all business SMS as 10DLC A2P (Application to Person), a new kind of SMS with numerous regulations, registration requirements, and fees. Failure to comply with these new regulations can result in increased costs, SMS messages being blocked, or significant fines.
Registration Requirements
For businesses to send messages to AT&T customers, companies must first register how they will be using SMS with AT&T. Likewise, Verizon and T-Mobile have their own registration requirements.
To make registration more manageable, the carriers have authorized a new entity, known as The Campaign Registry (TCR), to collect brand information and SMS usage on their behalf.
Registration involves providing information about the business (Brand Registration) and about how SMS will be used (Campaign Registration).
Messages sent by unregistered senders may incur additional charges and fines, or they could be blocked altogether.
What Does This Mean for Phone.com Customers?
There is uncertainty in the industry about exactly which senders this will impact, but we want to be proactive to ensure that your messages make it to your customers.
Registration with The Campaign Registry is not free, so normally, Phone.com customers would be required to register their SMS/MMS campaigns.
At this time, Phone.com will register on behalf of our customers, so initially, these costs will not be passed on. However, please note that we are still reviewing the impact of these new costs and may need to change our packaging and pricing later.
Because Phone.com SMS is intended only for conversational message exchange, most of our customers do not have to take any action at this time. We will take care of the registration for you.
However, if your organization sends more than 3,000 messages a month from one telephone number, we need additional information to register your campaign. Please submit this form, and we will register on your behalf.