Overview

This guide talks about Plivo’s regulatory compliance features, introduces our Compliance Application, and walks you through the review process.

Regulatory compliance

Plivo provides virtual phone numbers across multiple countries. Many of these phone numbers have compliance requirements that are put in place by a regional regulatory body. Ownership and subsequent usage of these virtual phone numbers is subject to an approval process in which users must provide information and documents to the regulatory body for review. Once Plivo and the regulators at its carrier partners have reviewed the information and approved it, you can link the information and documents to a virtual phone number, after which the number is ready to be used for voice and SMS services.

Compliance generally requires a set of documents and information that regulators must accept prior to a virtual phone number being approved. The specifics are defined by regulatory bodies based on several parameters:

  • Country of the phone number
  • Phone number type: local, toll-free, or mobile
  • User type: business or individual

Here’s an example of a compliance requirement:

For a business to own a toll-free virtual phone number in the country Ruritania, the applicant must provide:

  • An address in the country of the phone number
  • Company representative identification that shows that the information provided is correct

Compliance review process

The process to rent a regulated phone number involves several steps:

  1. Search for a number.
  2. View regulations associated with that number.
  3. Submit the required compliance information and documentation.
  4. Allow Plivo and carriers to review the submitted documentation.
  5. Celebrate successful activation of the phone number.

Plivo lets you bundle and save the compliance information and documents required to meet regional regulations in a Compliance Application — a logical grouping of the documents required for ensuring compliance for a unique combination of phone number country, number type, and user type. A Compliance Application can then be linked with the selected phone numbers to initiate review and subsequent activation of voice and SMS services.

Compliance Application

Regulatory requirements for phone numbers can be complex and time-consuming. By allowing customers to create and save Compliance Applications, our aim is to simplify the process for our customers. Compliance Applications help users to:

  • Get clear visibility into the information and documents required for activation prior to use of a regulated phone number.
  • Reuse already submitted documents to ensure compliance across multiple countries.
  • Create multiple collections of documents for different end users.
  • Associate collections of documents to phone numbers to ensure compliance in the region.