A2P SMS regulations in Canada.
Compliance with CRTC rules and sender-ID registration.
A2P SMS to Canada is regulated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). Common short codes are assigned by the Canadian Telecommunications Association (txt.ca) and take 3–6 weeks to provision after approval. CASL (Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation) enforced — explicit/implied consent, opt-out on every commercial message. BroadNet carries this traffic over direct operator connections.
Who regulates A2P SMS in Canada?
Application-to-person messaging to Canada is overseen by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), which licenses the operators that terminate A2P traffic and sets the conditions those routes run under. BroadNet delivers into Canada over direct operator connections — Rogers, Bell Canada and Telus — rather than through resold or grey routes, so the sender ID, the delivery receipt and the audit trail all come back from the licensed path.
- Telecoms regulator: Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).
- Direct operator routes: Rogers, Bell Canada and Telus.
- Short codes: assigned by the Canadian Telecommunications Association (txt.ca).
- Typical lead time: 3–6 weeks after txt.ca approval (short codes).
Sender ID registration in Canada
Common short codes in Canada are assigned by the Canadian Telecommunications Association through txt.ca. Applications are reviewed weekly, at least two separately owned carriers must agree to carry the program, and provisioning takes 3–6 weeks after approval, on an initial 12-month lease. Long-code requirements are set by the carriers, and BroadNet confirms them during onboarding. Every program also needs CASL consent, so plan the short code well before launch.
- Short codes: application to txt.ca, reviewed weekly.
- At least two separately owned carriers must agree to carry the program.
- Provisioning: 3–6 weeks after approval; initial 12-month lease.
- EN + FR (bilingual): Both official languages supported and required for some categories.
Consent, content and timing rules
CASL (Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation) enforced — explicit/implied consent, opt-out on every commercial message. PIPEDA governs PII. English + French both required for some categories. Promotional traffic requires a consent record you can produce on request, and an opt-out that is honoured immediately and permanently. Transactional messages — one-time passcodes, delivery and account alerts — are treated differently from marketing, but the distinction is decided by the content of the message rather than by how the campaign is labelled.
- CASL opt-in: Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation — explicit or implied consent for commercial SMS.
- PIPEDA: Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act governs PII.
- EN + FR (bilingual): Both official languages supported and required for some categories.
- txt.ca short codes: leased through the Canadian Telecommunications Association, 3–6 weeks to provision after approval.
What this means for your integration
Practically, three things decide whether traffic to Canada performs: a registered sender ID on a CRTC-licensed route, a consent and opt-out record you can evidence, and message content that matches the category it was registered under. BroadNet's compliance engine checks each submission against the Canada ruleset before it reaches the operator, so a non-compliant send is rejected back to you rather than filtered silently downstream — which is the difference between a fixable error and traffic that quietly disappears.
- Every message returns a delivery receipt (DLR); BroadNet does not publish per-country delivery percentages.
- Indicative list pricing: USD 0.012 – 0.025 per message.
- Addressable mobile base: 37M subscribers.
- PIPEDA: Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act governs PII.
- Submit your KYC packTrade licence, authorisation letter and sample messages
- BroadNet files the applicationWith the operators or the regulator, as the market requires
- Review and approvalTypical lead time3–6 weeks (short codes, after txt.ca approval)
- Send under your brandYour approved sender ID on every message
Technical facts for Canada
Network codes, message lengths and sender-ID rules in one table. Segment lengths are the GSM standard values (3GPP TS 23.038).
| Mobile country code (MCC) | 302 |
|---|---|
| Dialling code | +1 |
| Operators (MCC-MNC) |
|
| SMS length, GSM-7 (Latin alphabet) | 160 characters in a single SMS; 153 per part when concatenated |
| SMS length, UCS-2 (Arabic, Cyrillic and other scripts) | 70 characters in a single SMS; 67 per part when concatenated |
| Regulator | CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission) |
| Sender-ID rules | Common short codes are assigned by the Canadian Telecommunications Association (txt.ca) and take 3–6 weeks to provision after approval. Long-code requirements are set by the carriers; BroadNet confirms them during onboarding. CASL opt-in required. |
| Sender-ID lead time | 3–6 weeks (short codes, after txt.ca approval) |
Last reviewed
More on Canada
Compare A2P SMS rules across the region.
Each market pairs a regulatory playbook with its live coverage and operator-direct routing detail.
Canada rules: promotional vs. transactional SMS
| Capability | Promotional / marketing | Transactional / service (OTP, alerts) |
|---|---|---|
| Registered sender ID required | ||
| Prior consent required | — | |
| Opt-out instruction required | — | |
| Timing restrictions apply | — | |
| Delivery receipts available |
Common questions
Who regulates SMS in Canada?
Do I need to register a sender ID for Canada?
How long does it take to start sending to Canada?
What content and consent rules apply in Canada?
What does A2P SMS cost in Canada?
What delivery rate should I expect in Canada?
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