Twilio limits long code SMS to 1/sec. To improve my throughput, I split my batch into 5 phone numbers. I\'ve found each HTTP POST to the Twilio API takes about 0.5 seconds.
If you are using the trial account, even looping with a 5s timeout between each item in the array did not work for me. And that was for just two numbers. Once I upgraded the account the code worked immediately without needing a timeout.
You know it's the trial account if the SMS you receive (when sending to only one number) says "Sent from your Twilio trial account - ".