A2P 10DLC
The US system for business texting from ordinary 10-digit phone numbers, where the business and each use of texting are registered before messages flow.
Use this definition in team training or when clarifying a sales note.
Definition
A2P 10DLC is the US channel for business texting from ordinary phone numbers. A2P means application to person: messages a business sends from software rather than from a personal phone. 10DLC means a 10-digit long code, an ordinary local phone number.
The channel runs on registration. The Campaign Registry describes it as a channel in which brands and campaign service providers are verified before they are allowed to send messages. In practice a business registers through its messaging provider rather than directly: its brand, meaning the company’s legal details, and one or more campaigns, meaning each use of texting with sample messages and how customers opt in. The industry’s Messaging Principles and Best Practices set the expectations behind it: consent before messaging, clear instructions for how to stop, and honoring STOP as well as plain requests such as end, cancel or unsubscribe.
Why it matters
Texts from a program that is not registered, or that does not match what was registered, can be filtered or blocked before they reach the customer, and the team may never find out. Registration also forces the questions a texting program should answer anyway: who is sending, for what purpose, how customers agreed and how they stop. Settle them before the first message, and keep the opt-in records.