The short answer
10DLC (10-digit long code) is the US system for business texting from local numbers. You register your brand and each campaign (use case) with The Campaign Registry through your provider. DLT (distributed ledger technology) is India's TRAI system. You register your business as a principal entity, plus your sender headers and every message template, on an operator's DLT portal. Unregistered US traffic is surcharged, throttled or blocked; unregistered or non-matching Indian traffic is dropped by operators, usually without an error.
Side by side
| Regulator / body | US: carriers and The Campaign Registry (TCR), CTIA guidelines · India: TRAI, via operator DLT portals |
|---|---|
| What you register | US: brand + campaigns (use cases) · India: entity + headers (sender IDs) + templates + consent templates |
| Message content | US: sample messages per campaign; content can vary within the use case · India: every message must match an approved template, with variables marked |
| Sender | US: 10-digit local numbers linked to a campaign · India: 6-character alphanumeric headers for transactional and service SMS; numeric headers for promotional |
| Consent | US: prior express written consent for marketing, opt-out in the first message · India: explicit consent for service-explicit and promotional messages, recorded through Digital Consent Acquisition |
| Links and numbers in messages | US: reviewed in campaign vetting · India: URLs and call-back numbers must be whitelisted in the template |
| Sending hours | US: governed by TCPA and state rules · India: promotional SMS only 9 am to 9 pm |
| If you skip it | US: carrier surcharges, low throughput or blocking · India: messages silently dropped |
10DLC in practice
Your provider registers your brand (legal name, tax ID, website) and then each campaign, with a use case, sample messages, opt-in method and opt-out language. Carriers assign throughput based on the brand's trust score. Typical published fees in 2026 include about $4 per brand registration, about $41.50 for optional third-party vetting, $15 per campaign vetting and around $10 per month for a standard campaign with a three-month minimum. Fees vary by provider and campaign type.
DLT in practice
You register once as a principal entity on any operator's DLT portal (a one-time fee of ₹5,900 is commonly quoted), then register your headers with proof of brand ownership, then each template under the right category: transactional, service implicit, service explicit or promotional. Variable parts are marked as {#var#}. Finally, you bind your entity to your SMS provider's telemarketer ID so it can send on your behalf. Any mismatch between the sent message and the approved template causes the message to be dropped.
Common mistakes
- US: sending marketing from a campaign registered for account notifications; missing opt-out text; using emojis in sample messages, which can cause rejection.
- India: changing fixed text in a template; sending links that are not whitelisted; sending promotional SMS outside 9 am to 9 pm; forgetting the entity-to-provider binding.
How Voxvalley handles both
Voxvalley runs India traffic on DLT-registered headers and templates with consent handling, and US traffic on 10DLC registration with TCPA-aware routing, through US operators that run STIR/SHAKEN for calls. Our team helps customers and white-label partners register brands, campaigns, headers and templates before go-live.
Fee figures: Bandwidth, 10DLC registration guide (updated Feb 2026); EnableX, DLT registration guide. Fees change; confirm with your provider and DLT portal.