3 Reasons Why A2P 10DLC Registration Is No Longer Optional in 2023

Written by: Aaron Alter

What is 10DLC?

A 10-digit long code (10DLC) is a phone number used for Application-to-Person (A2P) or business text messaging in North America. These 10-digit numbers can include any US area code to help a business establish or increase regional presence. It’s the newest A2P messaging pathway compared to Toll-Free and Short Codes. 

What is 10DLC Registration For? 

With 10DLC messaging, you can achieve much higher throughput (AKA rate limit) potential based on your messaging use case with zero filtering – if you are registered with The Campaign Registry (TCR). TCR is the designated reputation authority for 10DLC messaging, partnered with Carriers and messaging companies to establish a common standard for 10DLC. 

The end goal of registration is to protect end users from SPAM. As a legitimate and verified sender, you are rewarded with higher throughputs and improved deliverability due to removed filtering. Additionally, your Carrier pass-through fees are drastically reduced. 

Why Hasn’t Everyone Registered Their 10DLC Traffic Already?

10DLC registration with TCR has always been required, but it hasn’t been strictly enforced by messaging providers. With 10DLC and TCR registration both being relatively new in the ever-evolving A2P messaging industry, a lot of confusion and misdirection ensued. The benefits and streamlined process of registration weren’t widely shared, therefore many businesses opted to continue sending unregistered 10DLC traffic (despite paying 4x higher Carrier pass-through fees). 

However, this will all change in 2023. There have been three main “levers” used to encourage the sanctioned path of registered 10DLC SMS & MMS messaging, and they are now being pulled with full force. Let’s dive in: 

1. Increased Carrier Pass-through Fees

Carrier fees are normal for A2P text messaging, but the point of higher fees on unregistered traffic is, of course, to encourage registration. For more than two years, businesses sending unregistered 10DLC messaging traffic have been incurring higher pass-through fees – up to 4x what they would be paying to send registered messages. 

Three major Carriers – AT&T, T-Mobile/Sprint, and most recently, Verizon – have announced and implemented even higher pass-through fees this year. For example, AT&T implemented a massive increase of 150% for SMS pass-through fees (from $0.004 to $0.01) and 200% for MMS pass-through fees (from $0.005 to $0.015) on June 1, 2023. These increases will undoubtedly be felt in your overall messaging ROI this year. 

2. Heavier Filtering 

We mentioned above that registered 10DLC traffic experiences zero filtering. This is because the business, its messaging needs, its opt-in and opt-out methods, and more have all been vetted and verified by TCR and Direct Connect Aggregators (DCAs). 

Legitimate businesses sending compliant 10DLC messages will still experience deliverability challenges due to heavy filtering if sending unregistered traffic. We expect filtering to continue to rise as time goes on. 

3. Complete Blockages 

The third and most damaging lever being pulled to encourage 10DLC registration is complete blockages and cut offs of unregistered messaging traffic. 

Various registration deadlines have popped up throughout the first part of this year, but it’s now safe to say that the industry at large has essentially announced a full cut off of unregistered traffic by the end of this summer. This has resulted in a mass frenzy and bottleneck in vetting and approvals since the beginning of the year, and it’s likely going to get worse before it gets better (it will get better, though). Thousands of businesses are currently at risk of being completely cut off if they can’t get their traffic fully registered by August 31, 2023, despite manual Campaign vetting approvals taking anywhere from 4-8+ weeks for most providers. 

Get Registered Fast with Telgorithm

We are the 10DLC experts and we are equipped to make your 10DLC registration experience seamless, affordable, and fast. We offer automated TCR registration so you can start sending messages instantly. Additionally, as early adopters of 10DLC, our trusted relationships with DCAs have enabled us to expedite TCR Campaign vetting approvals so you can send fully registered messages in days, never weeks. 

If this sounds too good to be true, don’t take our word for it. If you are currently a Campaign Service Provider, you can run an easy demo with us in which Telgorithm will send any of your Campaigns upstream on your behalf. This is free, requires zero coding and no contract. 

The Bottom Line 

With Carrier pass-through fees rising to new heights, message filtering increasing, and impending blockages, sending unregistered 10DLC traffic is not an option in 2023. The good news is that with a 10DLC partner like Telgorithm, you can quickly and easily resolve your registration woes and get set up for long-term success on 10DLC (registration is just the first step, after all!). 

Reach out to our team to get started today.