Wireless Industry Commitment

Messaging Principles Best Practices

The Messaging Principles and Best Practices (Principles and Best Practices) is a set of voluntary best practices developed by CTIA’s member companies throughout the wireless messaging ecosystem. These Principles and Best Practices identify parameters for facilitating the exchange via transmission, storage, and retrieval (exchange) of Consumer (Person-to-Person (P2P)) and Non-Consumer (Application-to-Person (A2P)) messages via Wireless Provider messaging networks while protecting Consumers from Unwanted Messages.

Messaging’s popularity is largely attributable to its status as a trusted and convenient communications environment among Consumers. These Principles and Best Practices are intended to reflect the wireless industry’s efforts to preserve the trust in and utility of Wireless Providers’ messaging services. Thus, the objectives of this document are to support a robust and dynamic wireless messaging community where:

  • Consumers can exchange wanted messages with other Consumers;
  • Message Senders and Consumers can exchange wanted messages; and
  • Consumers are protected from Unwanted Messages, in conformity with applicable laws and regulations, such as the United States’ Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 (CAN-SPAM Act).

The current version of the CTIA Messaging Principles and Best Practices is available here.

Additional information for campaigns and political organizations about sending text messages to voters is available here or download the PDF here.