SMS CTA Whitelisting Guidelines are applicable to all who send DLT based SMSs in India. If you do not send DLT based messages in India, you can safely ignore this.
TRAI has mandated to Whitelist CTA details like URLs / APKs / OTT Links / WABA links / Callback Numbers on the DLT Platform.
Here are the related FAQs:
Q. Do we to whitelist CTAs on multiple DLT Portals?
A. No, just whitelist on any one DLT.
Q. CTA (URLs and Callback Numbers) of static SMS part should also be whitelisted on DLT?
A. Yes
Q. What are the consequences of not complying with CTA whitelisting?
A. Any message containing non-whitelisted CTA will be REJECTED by Telecos
Q. Are redirection URLs allowed?
A. Yes, via Short URL mechanism
Q. Which Headers Type allowed for Short URL?
A. Only Alpha and Alphanumeric Headers allowed by DLT and Numeric Headers are not allowed
Q. Is Header part of Short URL Case Sensitive?
A. There is conclusion on this, hence we recommend to ensure Case Sensitive while Whitelisting and while passing in SMS content
Q. What is the expiry time of the short url?
A. The default expiry time of the short url is 1 Year.
Q. Dynamic URL should end with Question Mark?
A. Yes
Q. Do Subdomain URLs need to be uploaded separately?
A.Yes
Q. Are IP based URLs allowed to be uploaded?
A. No, only Domain Name based URLs are allowed.
Q: We don't have URLs, APKs, OTT Links, WABA Links, or Callback Numbers in our SMS content. Do we need to do CTA whitelist?
A: No, you're all set. CTA Whitelisting is only needed if you're including any of the above as static or variable content.
Best practices and validation checks to follow:
| Static URL | Should start with http, https or www | (?) Question mark not allowed |
| Dynamic URL | Should start with http, https or www | Mandatory to end in question mark (?) |
| APK URL | Should start with http, https or www | Mandatory to end with .apk |
| Whatsapp URL | Should start with http, https or www | Mobile number of INDIAN series to start with 91. (For 10 digits number) starts from 6-9 |
| Short URL | Should start with http, https | Should have Sender ID at the end (https://m.9m.io/MSGIND/ |
| Mobile Number | Can start with 91 OR without 91 | Mobile number (For 10 digits number) starts from 6-9 |
| Land Line Number - 10 digit | 10 digits | Can start with 0 OR without 0 |
| Toll Free Number | Starts from 1800 & 1860 and can be 8 to 11 digits | |
| 140 & 160 Series | 10 digits only |