# GSMA IR.71 testing — what an A2P route audit looks like

> GSMA IR.71 is the GSMA's reference document for A2P SMS network-to-network interconnect. Beyond defining the commercial framework, IR.71 prescribes a testing regime that operators use to validate that an aggregator's route is legitimate, well-formed, and free of grey-route bypass. Passing IR.71 testing is the prerequisite for getting a direct A2P agreement with most tier-1 operators.

- Canonical URL: https://www.broadnet.me/answers/gsma-ir71-testing
- Language: en
- Last reviewed: 2026-05-27
- Publisher: BroadNet (https://www.broadnet.me)

## What the test exercises

The operator's NOC sends a known test MSISDN list (typically 50–200 numbers across promotional, transactional, and OTP content classes) through the aggregator's A2P route. It verifies: correct sender-ID rendering, correct billing classification (P/T/O), DLR fidelity (state, error code, network code), latency p50/p95/p99, encoding handling for GSM 7-bit and UCS-2, long-SMS concatenation, and the absence of any grey-route fallback when the primary route is throttled.

## What fails most often

Three things. Sender-ID truncation past 11 characters (we have seen aggregators silently transliterate). DLR error code mapping (operators expect SMPP error codes that match their HLR/MSC reasons; some aggregators send generic 0x000000FF and lose the ground truth). Silent fallback to a cheaper P2P route when the operator throttles the A2P trunk — this is the death-knell finding and instantly ends the relationship.

## Re-testing cadence

Most operators re-test every 6 months for active aggregators and every 30 days when an incident has been logged. BroadNet's compliance team self-runs IR.71-pattern tests every Sunday on every direct route, and feeds the results into the same dashboard the NOC uses. We catch regressions before the operator does.

## Why this matters to buyers

If your aggregator cannot show you their last IR.71 test results for a country, assume they don't have a direct A2P agreement there. They are routing on grey, and the operator's SMS firewall will start blocking once they classify the route. Always ask: "Show me your most recent IR.71 test for STC / Etisalat / Vodafone Egypt."

## Related

- [All answers](https://www.broadnet.me/answers)
- [Glossary](https://www.broadnet.me/answers)
- [GSMA IR.71 explained](https://www.broadnet.me/answers/gsma-ir71-explained)
- [What is A2P monetization?](https://www.broadnet.me/answers/what-is-a2p-monetization)
- [What is a grey route in SMS?](https://www.broadnet.me/answers/what-is-grey-route-sms)
- [SMS Firewall (operators)](https://www.broadnet.me/operators/sms-firewall)
- [A2P monetization](https://www.broadnet.me/operators/a2p-monetization)