A2P 10DLC Registration Guide: End-to-End

This is the canonical end-to-end flow. The example follows the Twilio model; other CSPs (Telnyx, Bandwidth, Plivo) are analogous — the registry behind all of them is the same TCR. Do every step in order: a campaign cannot be submitted before its brand is approved.

Budget a few days to ~3 weeks end to end. The brand can clear in hours; carrier/DCA campaign review is the part that takes real calendar time, and it lengthens during peak backlog.

The flow

1. Create a Business / Primary Customer Profile

   Submit your business identity to your CSP’s trust system. This is the CSP-side identity validation that sits underneath the TCR brand record — name, address, EIN, authorized representative.

   Timeline: can take 72+ hours. Start here even if you’re still gathering campaign details, because nothing downstream can proceed until this validates.

2. Register the Brand

   Submit your business info to TCR for verification. The registry checks your identity against business records and returns a status — IN_REVIEW, APPROVED, FAILED, or SUSPENDED — plus a Trust Score for Standard brands.

   Timeline: often instant to a few hours; up to ~7+ business days if manual review is triggered.

   The required identity fields and the three registration paths (Sole Proprietor / Low-Volume Standard / Standard) are detailed in brand registration. The big gotcha: your business name must exactly match IRS records, and EIN — not DUNS — is the accepted business ID for Standard paths.

3. (Optional) External / secondary vetting

   Pay for a third-party vet to raise your Trust Score and unlock a higher throughput tier. A standard vet ($41.50, Aegis or WMC Global) produces a 0–100 score; an Aegis Enhanced vet ($101.50) is a deeper manual review used when the standard score comes back low.

   This is the single biggest lever on throughput for T-Mobile and AT&T. Skip it only if Low-Volume Standard caps are enough for you. See Trust Score and throughput.

4. Register a Campaign

   Choose a use case, write the description (40–4096 chars), provide 2–5 sample messages, and describe the opt-in flow (message flow , 40–2049 chars). Associate the campaign with a Messaging Service that contains your 10DLC numbers.

   Timeline: carrier/DCA vetting is commonly 3–7 business days, stretching to 10–15 days in peak backlog. This is the longest pole in the tent.

   The full field list, use cases, and sample-message rules are in campaign registration. Get the alignment right — description, use case, and samples must all agree, or you’ll bounce into the rejection reasons loop at $15 per resubmit.

5. SendOnce the campaign shows approved, send. Remember that each carrier approves separately — you may be live on T-Mobile while AT&T is still reviewing. Send your opt-in confirmation (welcome) message on first contact, and make sure STOP/HELP are wired before you scale.

Each carrier reviews separately

There is no single “approved” switch. AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon each evaluate your campaign against their own rules and timelines. Plan for the slowest of the three, and don’t be surprised when a campaign is partially live.

Realistic end-to-end timeline

The takeaway: don’t promise a launch date inside a week unless your brand is already approved. The campaign vetting queue is the variable you can’t control.

What’s next after approval

• Confirm the campaign is approved on all carriers you care about, not just one.
• Attach numbers via your Messaging Service / Number Pool (T-Mobile caps a campaign at 49 numbers without a Number Pool).
• Verify your privacy policy is still public and your opt-in CTA still carries all required disclosures — these are checked at review and can cause post-launch problems if changed.

Related: Brand registration · Campaign registration · Fees · Trust Score and throughput