March 2022 Summaries

Bandwidth's Research & Development (R&D) team explores various technologies to provide new revenue streams and enhance existing service offerings. The R&D team built prototypes for services such as 2FA, WebRTC, and hyper-scale messaging services. Occasionally, the team also works on side projects unrelated to Bandwidth's core products. In mid-2021, Bandwidth's R&D DeepRacer team participated in the AWS DeepRacer competition, which involved reinforcement learning for a car driving around a track. The team used various strategies and reward functions to improve their model's performance, ultimately finishing 29th out of 231 competitors. This experience allowed the team to raise awareness about machine learning within Bandwidth and explore potential applications for this technology in the company's products and services.

The webinar on business text messaging in 2022 highlighted the effectiveness of this channel for engaging with customers. It discussed key industry updates, changes in fees, and strategies to deliver better customer experiences. Businesses are increasingly using text messaging as a preferred mode of communication due to its high open rate and ability to optimize customer experience. The webinar also covered the four cornerstones of message deliverability: consumer consent, explicit disclosure, clear identification, and opt-out instructions. Furthermore, it explained the three business messaging options - short codes, toll-free numbers, and local numbers (10DLC) - and their unique benefits. Lastly, the webinar featured a conversation with Qeepsake's Chief Operating Officer, Duncan Street, who shared insights on how Bandwidth's partnership has benefited his company and trends in the messaging ecosystem.

The Campaign Registry (TCR) is a third-party company designated by U.S. carriers to register brands and campaigns for businesses that send SMS and MMS over local phone numbers using 10DLC. Starting March 1st, 2022, unregistered traffic began incurring surcharge fees from carriers like T-Mobile and AT&T. Businesses must comply with TCR to avoid these fees by registering their brands and campaigns that utilize local numbers for A2P messaging. Bandwidth offers the ability to register brands and campaigns within its dashboard or via API, helping businesses navigate 10DLC compliance effectively and maintain efficient A2P message deliverability.

In 2026, businesses are increasingly utilizing messaging to engage with customers, leading to heightened industry standards for business texting, known as A2P texting. This includes opt-in and opt-out management, campaign registration, and content restrictions to ensure accountability and prevent unwanted messages. A critical component of this ecosystem is the 10DLC registration process, mandated by US carriers to manage SMS and MMS traffic over local numbers, necessitating businesses to register their brands and campaigns with The Campaign Registry. Compliance with 10DLC registration avoids additional fees and surcharges imposed by carriers like Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile on unregistered traffic, aiming to maintain the health and trust of messaging networks. Companies like Bandwidth assist businesses in navigating these requirements by offering tools and support for brand and campaign registration, ensuring adherence to best practices and avoiding unnecessary fees. As the industry evolves, staying updated on the latest developments and maintaining compliance is crucial for effective and cost-efficient messaging strategies.