Brazil (BR)

Prerequisites

Upgraded Twilio account: Free trial accounts must upgrade to a paid account.

Restrictions

RCS messaging in Brazil requires creating an RCS Sender specifically for use in Brazil.

This cannot be done in the Twilio Console and requires manual steps.

Brazil RCS Senders cannot be used to send messages in other countries. 

Content Restrictions: 

The content restrictions for messaging in Brazil are strict and heavily regulated, primarily by the National Telecommunications Agency (ANATEL). Since major carriers like Vivo, Claro, and TIM all adhere to these national guidelines, the restrictions are consistent across the networks.

For both Short Code and RCS, the following content is prohibited or highly restricted:

• Political Content: Messages promoting political causes, campaigns, or individual politicians.

• Religious Content: Any messages that are religious in nature.

• Adult Content: Sexually explicit material or messages.

• Illegal Activities/Products: Content related to controlled substances, illegal products, or services.

• Gambling / Casinos: Promoting gambling services, betting, or lotteries.If the brand does betting or is a casino, they need to be approved by the Brazilian government, you can check the approval here.

• Multilevel Trading/Schemes: Messages related to "get rich quick" or pyramid schemes.

• Third-Party Rights Violations: Content that breaches intellectual property rights, copyrights, or registered trademarks.

• Unsolicited Promotion (Spam): Any commercial or promotional message sent without the recipient's explicit consent (opt-in).

Also, any use cases that violate Twilio's Acceptable Use Policy, Messaging Policy or Google’s Acceptable Use Policy are prohibited on Twilio's platform, regardless of sender type or destination.

Requirements

General Requirements: 

To get started in Brazil, submit this form

Please ensure to read the form instructions carefully and check each entry before submission. This will help avoid back and forth and potential rejection due to this.

Also, be aware that, 

• RCS Senders in Brazil may experience up to 60 minutes of downtime annually during a maintenance window. Twilio will provide a 30-day advance notice for this. During this period, all messages will default to SMS delivery instead of RCS.
  
  

If you plan to use RCS in a region other than Brazil, you can directly submit your RCS sender through Twilio's Console. For more information, please review our documentation.

Carrier Specific Requirements:

1. You need to provide your CNPJ (Cadastro Nacional da Pessoa Jurídica), which is the Brazilian business registration number. It consists of 14 digits and is used to identify legal entities in Brazil for tax purposes.
2. You are required to send a brand approval email. If you are an Independent Software Vendor (ISV), you are also required to obtain and send the brand approval from your end-client. The Twilio RCS team will provide the necessary guidance for this step during the onboarding process.
3. Demo video illustrating the RCS messages flow. You can either submit or provide approval to the Onboarding team for the creation of a demo video illustrating the RCS messages flow. The Twilio RCS Onboarding team will provide the necessary guidance for this step.

Timeframe

The RCS onboarding process has two main steps, each with its own timeline.

Step 1: Twilio Internal Review

After you submit a sender in the Twilio Console, a Twilio RCS onboarding specialist will begin the review process. 

This initial step is designed to confirm that your submission aligns with all carrier and messaging compliance requirements. The specialist will reach out to you with their findings, highlighting any corrections needed and providing guidance on how to fix them. 

The overall timeline for this process is variable and depends entirely on the compliance, requirements of your initial submission and your responsiveness to any requested changes. We can only move to the next stage once the submission is fully compliant.

Step 2: Carrier Review

Once your sender application passes Twilio's review, we submit it to our carrier partners in Brazil for approval.

The final launch timeline can vary and may take longer depending on the use case and specific requirements.

The best way to ensure a faster approval is to submit a fully compliant application, as the process can be delayed if carriers require additional information or clarification.

Important Note: Please be aware that application timelines may be impacted by carrier network freezes or delays around major holidays.

Pricing

Learn more here.

Next Steps

Once your RCS sender is live, add it to your Messaging Service and begin sending messages. Learn more here.

Fallback SMS Sender: It is recommended to have a live Twilio SMS-capable sender to message devices that are not RCS-capable. Twilio offers built-in fallback.