Important Update: Navigating New FCC & Industry Requirements for Your Communication Services

Understanding Your Regulatory Compliance (REG COMP) Charges

1. E911 Registration and Service Fees: These cover the costs of ensuring that emergency calls to 911 are properly routed to the correct public safety answering point (PSAP) and that your location information is accurately provided to emergency services.
   
2. Federal Universal Service Fund (USF) Contributions: The FCC mandates that all telecommunications providers contribute to the USF, which helps support affordable telecommunications services for low-income consumers, rural healthcare providers, and schools and libraries.
   
3. FCC Regulatory Fees: These are annual fees assessed by the FCC to cover its costs of regulating the telecommunications industry.
   
4. Local Number Portability Administration (LNPA) Fees: These cover the costs associated with allowing you to keep your existing phone numbers when switching providers.
   
5. Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) Fund Contributions: These contributions support services that enable individuals with hearing or speech disabilities to communicate by telephone.
   

Enhancing Trust in Your Communications: STIR/SHAKEN and 10DLC

1. STIR/SHAKEN (Secure Telephone Identity Revisited/Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information Using toKENs) for Voice Calls: This technology acts like a digital "signature" attached to every phone call. It allows the receiving phone company to verify that the number displayed on your caller ID is legitimate and hasn't been "spoofed" or faked by scammers. The goal is to increase trust in the phone network, reduce unwanted robocalls, and help you identify legitimate calls from important contacts.
   
2. 10DLC (10-Digit Long Code) Registration for SMS Messaging: This is a system adopted by major mobile carriers (like AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon) for businesses sending A2P (Application-to-Person) SMS messages using standard 10-digit phone numbers. It requires businesses to register their brand and the specific types of messages they send (their "campaigns") with a central authority. This helps carriers differentiate legitimate business messages from spam, improving deliverability and reducing unwanted texts.
   

The Latest Mandates and Their Impact on UpLync Communications

1. Provider-Owned Certificates: The FCC's updated rules now explicitly require that voice service providers like UpLync Communications obtain and utilize their own STIR/SHAKEN certificates to sign calls. This is a significant shift, placing the direct responsibility and associated costs for certificate acquisition, management, and integration squarely on our shoulders.
   
2. Independent Attestation Decisions: We are now responsible for independently determining the authenticity of calls originating from our network and assigning the appropriate attestation level (A, B, or C, indicating the level of verification). This requires more sophisticated systems and ongoing processes.
   
3. Enhanced Robocall Mitigation Database Filings: All voice service providers must maintain up-to-date certifications and comprehensive robocall mitigation plans with the FCC. These filings are becoming more detailed and require continuous monitoring and updates.
   

1. Mandatory Brand & Campaign Registration: To ensure your business SMS messages are delivered reliably, we must now register your business brand and each distinct messaging "campaign" (e.g., appointment reminders, marketing alerts, customer service notifications) with The Campaign Registry, the central authority for 10DLC. Each brand and campaign requires a separate registration and incurs fees.
   
2. Increased Vetting Requirements: As part of the registration process, businesses undergo a vetting process to verify their legitimacy. This adds an administrative layer and associated costs.
   
3. Higher Pass-Through Carrier Fees: Mobile carriers are imposing new, higher surcharges on unregistered 10DLC traffic, and in many cases, outright blocking it. Even for registered traffic, carriers have increased their per-message fees significantly to cover the costs of managing the 10DLC ecosystem and combating spam. These fees are passed through to providers like us.
   
4. Proactive Compliance Monitoring: We must actively monitor messaging content and usage to ensure compliance with carrier acceptable use policies and prevent issues that could lead to message blocking or brand suspension.
   

Why This Leads to Increased Costs

1. Technology and Infrastructure Upgrades: Implementing our own STIR/SHAKEN call signing solution and integrating with the 10DLC registration ecosystem requires investment in specialized software, potentially new hardware, and complex system integrations.
   
2. Certificate, Brand, and Campaign Fees: Obtaining and maintaining necessary digital certificates (for voice) and paying recurring fees for brand and campaign registrations (for SMS) incur significant annual and monthly costs.
   
3. Increased Carrier Pass-Through Fees: Mobile carriers' higher per-message fees for 10DLC traffic directly increase our operational expenses.
   
4. Increased Staffing and Training: Ensuring ongoing compliance demands dedicated resources, including staff training on the intricacies of STIR/SHAKEN and 10DLC protocols, managing registration processes, and handling the associated reporting and auditing.
   
5. Ongoing Monitoring and Administration: We must continuously monitor call traffic, analyze attestation levels, manage message deliverability, and adapt our systems to meet evolving FCC guidelines and carrier policies. This is an ongoing operational cost.
   

Our Commitment to You