Regulatory and Compliance Corner: Q2 2025

Welcome to your Q2 snapshot of the fast-moving regulatory landscape in telecom—and what it means for ISVs building on Twilio. We’ve distilled the latest global trends, upcoming deadlines, and actionable updates to help you stay informed and better support your own compliance strategy.

Global Regulatory Trends: Tightening Net on Fraud

Across the globe, telecom regulators are doubling down on fraud prevention. It’s no longer just about compliance—it’s about trust and consumer safety. Here’s what’s grabbing headlines and driving change:

• International Call & Messaging Blocking: An increasing number of countries—including Australia, Ireland, Italy, Spain, and the UK—are proposing or have already introduced rules to block international calls and messages that appear to spoof local numbers. It’s part of a broader crackdown on fraud and reflects a global shift toward tightening caller identification requirements.

• New Sender ID Registries: Ireland has rolled out a Sender ID registry (with Spain and Australia on the horizon). ISVs sending messages in Ireland need to ensure sender IDs are registered or risk their customer messages being flagged as “Likely-SCAM” (or worse, blocked) as early as July—October 2025.

• Stricter KYC (Know Your Customer) Rules: Know Your Customer (KYC) standards are tightening around the world. Regulators are paying closer attention to risk signals like freemail sign-ups, mismatched IPs, and unverified addresses. The US and UK are already enforcing tougher requirements, and Ireland and Australia are expected to follow suit. With enforcement ramping up—especially in the US—businesses should prepare for a global shift toward more rigorous customer vetting.

• Numbering Plan Changes: Brazil and Spain have amended their numbering regulations. Brazil, for example, now restricts the resale of fixed-line voice services and mandates tax IDs (CNPJ) for businesses.

• Sub-Assignment Restrictions: If your business assigns numbers downstream (to end customers), be aware: Japan, France, Spain, and soon Australia, are getting stricter with sub-assignment. 

Pro-Tip: If you operate in or route traffic through any of these regions, review your sender and phone number assignments—and work with your compliance lead to avoid disruptions.

North America: Messaging & Voice Updates

US 10DLC Messaging:

The Campaign Registry is bumping up fees for onboarding brands. Effective August 1:

• Brand registration, vetting, and appeals will all see small fee increases.

• Key Deadline: Existing Public-Profit brands must complete Authentication+ by October 30, 2025, to avoid uninterrupted service. If you finish verification before August, it’s free; after that, a new $12.50 fee applies.

Toll-Free Verification:

• Coming in January 2026, all new toll-free verifications will require a business EIN for US entities (or your local registration number internationally).

Pro-Tip: This doesn’t affect your existing verifications just yet, but it’s wise to prepare now.

RCS Onboarding:

• Rich Communication Services (RCS) is opening up, but remains exclusively for large, recognized brands—at least for now. Expect carrier vetting fees (~$700 per sender) and limited carrier support in early releases.

Numbering Changelog: More Numbers, More Markets

Why this matters: Expanded number choice means easier onboarding and broader reach for your customers—without the headaches of private offerings.

Twilio is expanding number availability and general access across several countries:

• Now available: Local voice numbers in Norway; expanded geodiversity for local voice in Australia; and new local and toll-free numbers in Japan, Chile, and Italy.

• Coming soon: Germany (mobile); France (local, national, polyvalent numbers). Expect all to reach GA by the end of July.

Compliance Innovations: Building for Scale

Twilio is investing heavily in smoother compliance experiences, including:

• Self-Serve Onboarding (“Compliance Embeddable”): A drop-in User Interface for ISVs to help your users manage verification and registration for toll-free, customer profiles, regulatory bundles, branded calling, and soon, 10DLC.

• Compliance Status Report: A unified dashboard/report so you can easily check the compliance status of your numbers and fix rejected items in bulk.

• Compliance Toolkit (Private Beta): AI-driven support for US messaging regulations—think silent hours, consent, and reassigned number checks.

Keep Reading and Stay Compliant

The compliance tides are rising. If you haven’t already:

• Register your sender IDs (esp. Ireland!).

• Complete Authentication+ for US 10DLC brands before the August deadline.

• Start collecting (and submitting) EINs for upcoming US toll-free verifications.

• Use Twilio’s self-serve tools to cut onboarding time and reduce your support burden.

That’s your quarter in review. Stay secure, stay compliant—and, as always, keep building!