Written by: Aaron Alter
Over the last few weeks, many software providers have been experiencing extended vetting delays and increased rejections on their A2P 10-digit long code (10DLC) Campaigns. SMS API providers with impacted customers have begun notifying them that this is being caused by a newly required âsecondary DCA (Direct Connect Aggregator) vettingâ.
Software providers registered as Campaign Service Providers (CSPs) with The Campaign Registry (TCR) may have also seen firsthand âDCA2â next to Campaign rejections in the portal, which also refers to this âsecond DCA vettingâ.
How Does 10DLC Campaign Vetting Work?
When a 10DLC Campaign is submitted to TCR, your API provider, AKA Connectivity Partner (CNP), pushes that Campaign upstream for DCA review. There are three major DCAs managing 10DLC messaging in North America. The DCA that your CNP is partnered with is the one that will vet your Campaigns.
Once received, the DCA will manually review each Campaign to ensure they are compliant with Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA) and mobile carrier guidelines. Some of the compliance requirements may vary depending on the DCA, so itâs important that your CNP/API provider keeps you informed and provides guidance around any changes.
If you are a CSP, youâre able to closely monitor the status of your submitted Campaigns. In your CSP portal, you simply navigate to âMy Campaignsâ in the menu on the left-hand side and click on the Campaign. When the Campaign is first submitted, the âElected DCAâ column in the âCarrier Statusâ section will show âNoâ next to each Carrier. If approved, the column will change to âYesâ.
If a Campaign is rejected, itâs considered an âeventâ. Navigate to the âEvent Typeâ section at the bottom of the page â if you see âCAMPAIGN_SHARE_DELETEâ, this means your Campaign was rejected. The âdescriptionâ column will show the DCAâs exact reason for the rejection and how to fix it for re-submission.
Where Does âSecondary Vettingâ Come Into Play?
In the Campaign vetting process described above, only one DCA is vetting Campaigns. However, in recent weeks, one of the DCAs has partnered with a second DCA for Campaign vetting. This means that any CNP/API provider partnered with this particular DCA now has to send your customersâ Campaigns through two DCAs for approval, which is ultimately taking longer and is resulting in a rise of rejections as the compliance requirements can vary from DCA to DCA.
We do want to note that if the term âsecondary vettingâ sounds familiar to you outside of this specific use case, thatâs because âsecondary vettingâ or âadded vettingâ are both used to describe the process of requesting higher throughputs based on your messaging use case and throughput needs. In this article, âsecondary vettingâ only refers to the new scenario of having Campaigns reviewed by more than one DCA.
What About the Dec. 1st Registration Deadline?
Despite this new registration hurdle, there have been no changes to the December 1, 2024 deadline for getting all Brands and Campaigns fully registered, which is cause for concern for software providers with many customers to register. If you are being impacted by new secondary vetting requirements, itâs incredibly important that you team up with your CNP/API provider and complete registration before the deadline as remaining unregistered traffic (including pending Brands and Campaigns) will be cut off after Dec. 1.
Telgorithm Can Help.
Telgorithm is not affected by the âsecondary vettingâ requirement and is still achieving DCA approvals in 72 hours or less on average. We have a unique, streamlined 10DLC setup process, we offer individualized compliance guidance, and we have strong relationships with multiple DCAs to enable us to expedite Campaign approvals.
If your team is struggling to get customers registered, particularly ahead of the Dec. 1 cut-off deadline, get in touch with a 10DLC expert at Telgorithm. There is no other SMS API provider thatâs 100% dedicated to 10DLC messaging and that can guide you through the continuous industry changes and challenges.