What is a Direct Connect Aggregator (DCA)?
Last reviewed by Moderation API
A direct connect aggregator (DCA) sits between the platforms that send business text messages and the mobile carriers that deliver them. It has direct connections into the carrier networks, which most messaging platforms do not.
What a DCA does in 10DLC
When a campaign service provider (CSP) registers a 10DLC campaign with The Campaign Registry, the campaign goes to a DCA for review. The DCA can approve it, ask for changes or reject it. After approval, the DCA carries the campaign's traffic to the carriers.
The work does not stop at approval. DCAs and carriers keep checking live traffic, and they can suspend a campaign whose messages drift from what was registered.
How fines move through the chain
Each layer answers to the layer above it. When a carrier fines a content violation, the fine goes to the DCA that delivered the message. The DCA passes it to the CSP, and the CSP may try to recover it from the brand. In practice the CSP pays first, and it has to show what it did to prevent the violation.
CSPs can catch drift before the DCA does. Moderation API’s 10DLC compliance add-on checks every message against the campaign it was sent under.
