Your company’s wireless provider or your API service company likely is demanding more information about your business or is asking you to provide information to a registry of text message business users. The reason is that wireless providers are responding to an April 2023 Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulation that requires the wireless providers to verify the identity of businesses that send text messages to their customers that is going into effect now.

The FCC’s new regulation extended some protections against robocalls to land lines to text messages sent by businesses. To reduce the problems of spam text messages and phishing, the FCC requires wireless providers to obtain information about the businesses using what is known as A2P via 10-digit mobile and wireless numbers that originate from North America. These are known as “A2P 10DLC” numbers for Application-to-Person 10DLC text messages.

The wireless companies have responded with a “new industry standard” that requires their customers to “register” with a privately operated database, one of which is called “The Campaign Registry, Inc.” Wireless providers also may charge more for text messages from businesses than they did before. Wireless providers appear to be charging more or cutting off businesses’ text message options for companies that do not register. One operator of API services also may be terminating services to businesses it considers “high risk,” and one NPA member has reported being told by that operator that pawnshops are considered “high risk.” The NPA is communicating with this API service provider today about this “high-risk” designation.

So, what kind of information is your wireless provider or API service provider likely to demand from your business? Here is a list:

· Legal Business Name

· Physical Address

· Other Mailing Address

· City

· Business Type (sole proprietor, partnership, corporation, Co-Operative, LLC, or non-profit)

· Business Registration number/ federal Tax ID (all nine digits)

· Website address, if any

And, point-of-contact information including:

· Name of a responsible owner, officer, or other senior executive officer

· Email address for that person

· Title of the person/ Job position (owner, director, general manager, general counsel, CEO or CFO)

· Business phone number for the person

If a business refuses or fails to provide both parts of the list above, the wireless carrier and the registry it is using are required by the FCC rule to BLOCK text messages you try to send to customers using the carrier’s platform. So, provide the information or put your A2P communications with customers at risk.

If you want more information from the NPA about this regulation and wireless providers’ new industry standard, please email Kathy Pierce, NPA’s GRC Liaison, at Kathy.npagrc@gmail.com.

Disclaimer: This alert is not intended as legal advice.

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