To comply with new US carrier regulations, cover new carrier surcharges for sending and receiving SMS, and help reduce the risk of fines or carrier penalties for our customers, RingCentral is now offering an enhanced SMS solution with new pricing.
On February 15, 2022, we are rolling out our Enhanced Business SMS, with new SMS pricing to go into effect for new customers. On March 17, 2022, all customers will experience new pricing, inclusive of per-message carrier fees. Most RingCentral customers will not be impacted or incur any additional per-message fees.*
Why is this happening?
In 2018, SMS was reclassified as an informational service, granting US mobile carriers the ability to regulate the rules of how SMS may be sent, what type of content may be sent, and implement and manage fees for different types of SMS. In 2021, US mobile carriers including Verizon, AT&T, and T-mobile reclassified all business SMS as 10DLC A2P, a new type of SMS with numerous regulations, registration requirements, and fees. Failure to comply with these new regulations can result in increased costs, SMS messages being blocked, or significant fines.
To help our customers remain compliant with these new regulations, RingCentral has been proactive in working with the carriers and building a solution that not only helps offset these new costs but improves deliverability and provides more ways for our customers to connect with their customers. Read on to understand what steps RingCentral is taking to improve deliverability and SMS industry compliance for our customers.
New content and messaging requirements
As a participating TCR CSP, RingCentral is dedicated to providing the highest quality of service, while working to eliminate spam, phishing, and fraudulent messages. To help ensure these goals are met, and in accordance with CTIA messaging guidelines, we have outlined our content and messaging policies here that apply to our SMS/ MMS solutions, whether sent via the RingCentral App, a third-party provider, or via the API.
New carrier registration requirements
In order for businesses to send messages to AT&T customers, businesses must first register how they will be using SMS with AT&T. Likewise, Verizon and T-Mobile have their own registration requirements.
To make registration easier, the carriers have authorized a new entity, known as The Campaign Registry (TCR) to collect brand information and SMS usage on their behalf. RingCentral is a TCR CSP and has proactively registered all customers to ensure there are no business disruptions. Over the next several months, we will continue to ensure all RingCentral customers are properly registered and may reach out for additional information to help ensure your business remains in good standing with the carriers.
While there are multiple fees for TCR registration, RingCentral is currently covering our customers at no additional cost until further notice.
How we are adapting to improve SMS deliverability, ROI, and compliance with new regulations
RingCentral has proactively worked with US carriers in meeting these requirements to prevent business interruptions for our customers. We are excited to announce our Enhanced Business SMS, designed to offer a compliant, intelligent, and trusted solution.
- Efficient: Greater SMS deliverability and access for our customers
- Intelligent: Smarter SMS designed to provide greater insights
- Trusted: SMS that is registered with carriers and known by your customers
Our Enhanced Business SMS solution helps meet carrier and regulatory requirements (including HIPAA) and is backed by AI to help reduce and identify messages that would otherwise be blocked or put businesses at risk of fines from carriers—all while using your trusted business number and having proper campaign registration along with the tools to improve deliverability.
What does this mean for existing customers?
We are proud to introduce a new Enhanced Business SMS solution for all of our RingCentral MVP™ customers. This new solution is designed to improve deliverability, increase ways to connect with your customers, and help offset a portion of the new fees now associated with business SMS.
Some new benefits of our new Enhanced Business SMS:
- SMS now meets new carrier requirements and helps reduce risk of fines for non-compliance
- All customers are registered with mobile carriers by RingCentral
- Built-in protection mechanisms, including advanced spam filtering
- Greater SMS deliverability and access for our customers
- Most customers will be able to continue sending SMS without incurring new per-message carrier surcharges*
To accomplish this, starting March 17, 2022, RingCentral MVP™ customers will now be provided with an SMS allowance for their account, and once exhausted incur a transparent, per-message carrier surcharge inclusive rate of $0.0085 per SMS and $0.013 per MMS¹ sent and received. This allowance will be pooled at the account level based on your plan tier and the number of paid users. For example, RingCentral US MVP™ customers will receive an allowance as follows: Essentials (equivalent of 25 SMS per paid user), Standard (equivalent of 100 SMS per paid user), Premium (equivalent of 200 SMS per paid user), Ultimate (equivalent of 500 SMS per paid user).
RingCentral Canada MVP™ customers will receive allowances pooled at the account level of Essentials (equivalent of 25 SMS per paid user), Standard (equivalent of 50 SMS per paid user), Premium (equivalent of 100 SMS per paid user), Ultimate (equivalent of 250 SMS per paid user). These reduced allowances are due to significantly higher carrier surcharges in Canada.
With these allowances, most of our customers are not expected to incur any additional overages and will receive all the added benefits of this enhanced solution. For example, a RingCentral US MVP™ Premium customer with 100 paid users will receive 20,000 SMS messages for use across their account (which means higher volume sending departments are not penalized, and SMS allocated to lower sending departments are not wasted). In fact, with these new allowances, your company may be able to take greater advantage SMS to better connect and interact with your customers.
For higher volume customers, you may also purchase additional SMS messages at a reduced rate based on volume.
For customers with marketing, automated, or higher volumes needs, our High Volume SMS solution provides automated queuing, opt-out management, and descriptive error messages with SMS sending at a higher rate. You may also take advantage of our High Volume SMS App designed for marketing or bulk list sends.
Where can I find out more information?
With the reclassification of SMS and new requirements from mobile carriers, we realized there was a unique opportunity to provide a new, enhanced business SMS solution that the market had not seen before. Enhanced Business SMS not only helps meet regulatory requirements (including HIPAA with data retention policies), but is designed to help improve deliverability and reduce the risk of messages that would otherwise be blocked or fined by the carriers. With our Enhanced Business SMS solution, you have SMS that is carrier compliant, intelligent, and trusted.
Please reach out to your account manager or customer success manager for more questions on how our Enhanced Business SMS offering can help your business.
* Per-message rates inclusive of per-message carrier surcharges for long code and toll-free messages, international or additional charges extra. Customers may be required to register individual brand and/or campaign information with The Campaign Registry (the mobile carriers’ preferred hub for managing SMS campaigns), which may result in additional fees. RingCentral customers are responsible for any fines and penalties assessed by mobile carriers or other third parties due to their usage of SMS, as outlined in the SMS Messaging and Content policy.
¹US based pricing for standard long code SMS and MMS. For Canada the surcharge is $CAD 0.0095 for inbound SMS and $CAD 0.019 for outbound SMS and $CAD 0.017 for inbound MMS and $CAD 0.034 for outbound MMS.
Originally published Feb 15, 2022
