T‑Mobile’s rules governing prohibited message categories, tiered violation fines, traffic management and special‑business approval processes for US‑Canada A2P SMS cover short‑codes, 10DLC and toll‑free numbers. Enterprises conducting SMS operations must avoid prohibited scenarios, otherwise they may face fines, traffic throttling or permanent revocation of brand access privileges.
Prohibited message categories include high‑risk lending, third‑party lead generation, third‑party debt collection, get‑rich‑quick marketing, cannabis/CBD, gambling, and SHAFT‑related content (Sex, Hate, Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco). Certain categories are barred over SMS even if legally permitted at state‑level; companies may resort to alternative channels such as email.
T‑Mobile implements three‑tier Severity‑0 (Sev‑0) content‑violation fines: phishing/social‑engineering fraud messages: USD 2 000 per occurrence; federal‑ or state‑illegal content: USD 1 000 per occurrence; other SHAFT‑type commercial violations: USD 500 per occurrence. Beyond content‑related penalties, additional compliance fines apply: sending SMS without completing number‑ownership verification: USD 10 000; snow‑shoeing techniques to bypass 10DLC rules: USD 1 000; inactive idle campaigns incur a USD 250 idle fee.
Traffic limits are enforced at brand level. Default low‑tier throughput is 2 000 messages per day, with multiple throughput tiers determined by third‑party credit‑risk scoring. To exceed default thresholds, applicants must pass the Special Business Review (SBR) at a USD 500 review fee per brand. One campaign may use up to 49 numbers by default; number‑pool application is required above this limit. Political, non‑profit and governmental use‑cases may qualify for special traffic allowances.
TCR brand and campaign registration is a fundamental pre‑requisite. Failure to register properly triggers message blocking and additional sanctions. In severe cases T‑Mobile may permanently block a brand from accessing its network.
