A2P & SMS Compliance
The FCC and CTIA have fundamentally changed how businesses can send text messages. A2P 10DLC registration is now mandatory for all application-to-person SMS — and carriers are filtering, blocking, and fining campaigns that aren't registered. Sending a single marketing text without proper registration can get your number blacklisted. Here's everything you need to know before you send another text.
What is A2P 10DLC?
A2P stands for Application-to-Person — any text message sent by software on behalf of a business to a consumer. 10DLC stands for 10-Digit Long Code — a standard U.S. phone number used for business texting (as opposed to short codes or toll-free numbers).
A2P 10DLC is the industry framework — mandated by the major U.S. carriers (AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon) through The Campaign Registry (TCR) — that requires businesses to register their brand and each messaging campaign before sending A2P SMS on long codes.
What requires A2P 10DLC registration:
- Appointment reminders and confirmations
- Promotional texts ("Book today, save 15%")
- Service notifications ("Your technician is 30 minutes away")
- Review request texts
- Lead follow-up texts from CRMs
- Mass text campaigns
- Any automated SMS sent through a platform (ServiceTitan, HubSpot, Podium, etc.)
What does NOT require A2P 10DLC: Person-to-person texts sent manually from a personal phone number.
The registration process
A2P 10DLC registration happens in two layers:
1. Brand Registration
Register your business entity with The Campaign Registry (TCR). Requires your legal business name, EIN (Tax ID), physical address, industry type, and a designated point of contact. Most SMS platforms (Twilio, Bandwidth, etc.) handle this through their dashboard.
2. Campaign Registration
Register each type of messaging use case separately. Each campaign type (marketing, appointment reminders, customer service, etc.) requires a separate registration with:
- Description of message content
- Sample messages
- How recipients opt in (website form, verbal consent, written consent)
- Opt-out keyword confirmation (STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE)
- Opt-in confirmation message
Registration fees are typically $4–$12/month per campaign, charged by the carrier. Some platforms bundle this into their pricing.
TCPA — the older but still-active law
A2P 10DLC is a carrier/industry framework. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) is the federal law — enforced by the FCC and through private lawsuits — that governs consent for automated calls and texts.
TCPA requirements for texting:
- Prior express written consent is required for marketing texts sent via automated systems. This consent must be documented — a checkbox on a form, a signed document, or a recorded verbal opt-in.
- Transactional/informational texts (appointment reminders, service notifications) require prior express consent — not necessarily written, but documented.
- Opt-out must be honored immediately. When a recipient replies STOP, they must be removed from all future campaigns. Failure to honor STOP replies is a per-violation TCPA violation.
- Text before 8am or after 9pm local time is prohibited.
TCPA penalties: $500–$1,500 per violation. Class action TCPA lawsuits are common and can produce seven-figure settlements from seemingly small practices (e.g., sending a text to someone on the Do Not Call list, or not honoring a STOP request).
2024 FCC one-to-one consent rule
In January 2024, the FCC's new "one-to-one consent" rule took effect, requiring that consumer consent for marketing calls/texts be specific to a single seller — not buried in a shared consent form covering multiple companies. Lead generation forms that obtained consent for a broad network of marketers are no longer compliant.
Industry impact
Trades businesses (HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing)
Nearly every modern field service platform (ServiceTitan, Jobber, Housecall Pro, FieldEdge) sends automated appointment reminders, technician-on-the-way notifications, and review requests via SMS. All of these require proper A2P 10DLC registration and TCPA-compliant consent. If your platform hasn't walked you through this, you may be sending non-compliant texts today.
K–12 schools
Schools sending mass texts for emergency alerts, event notifications, and enrollment updates must ensure A2P registration for their messaging platform and TCPA-compliant consent from parents/guardians. Emergency alerts have different consent standards but promotional/non-emergency texts require express consent.
Municipalities
Cities and counties sending utility bill alerts, permit status updates, and public notices via SMS must be A2P registered. Government entities have some TCPA exemptions for purely informational communications, but the lines are not always clear — registration is best practice regardless.
Audit your SMS compliance
We review your A2P registration status, consent collection, opt-out mechanisms, and platform configuration — and fix every gap before the carriers do it for you.