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Special Use Cases for A2P 10DLC Follow

Special Use Cases are a classification of 10DLC message campaigns that may qualify for increased messaging throughput and/or reduced carrier fees compared to standard use cases. A subset of special use cases are sensitive or critical in nature and require additional approval processes.

Topics Covered

List of Special Use Cases

  • The following represents the latest published list of Special Use Cases agreed to by AT&T and T-Mobile:
Use Case Description Examples Currently Available for Registration?
Agents; franchise; local branches Brands that have multiple agents, franchises or offices in the same brand vertical, but require individual localized numbers per agent/location/office. Note: Franchises/businesses with a separate EIN should register as a separate brand. Maximum 5000 numbers per Campaign. A real estate company operates offices at multiple locations with multiple real estate agents. Each real estate agent has their own number and manages their own text communication. Yes
Charity / 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Communications from a registered Charity / 501(c)(3) Nonprofit aimed at providing help and raising money for those in need. Limited to 501(c)(3) nonprofits. A food bank registered as a 501(c)(3) sending out appointment reminders to program beneficiaires. Yes
K-12 Education For messaging platforms that support schools from grades K-12 and distance learning centers. A messaging platform for schools. Yes
Proxy Peer-to-peer app-based group messaging with proxy/pooled numbers. Supporting personalized services and non-exposure of personal numbers for enterprise or A2P communications. A phone number is assigned to a conversation (e.g. end-user/agent pair), rather than to a single business or individual. Both parties to the conversation send text messages to that number, which acts as a relay and protects the privacy of both users' personal numbers. A ride sharing service that offers anonymized messaging communications between drivers and passengers. Yes
Emergency  Notification services designed to support public safety/health during natural disasters, armed conflicts, pandemics, and other national or regional emergencies. A government agency sending out critical alerts to residents during a wildfire. Yes
Political Part of an organized effort to influence decision making of a specific group. A political organization sending text messages encouraging voters to vote for a specific candidate in a federal election. Yes
Social Communication between public figures/influencers and their communities. A YouTube influencer or celebrity sharing informational updates with their followers. Yes
Sweepstakes All sweepstakes-related messaging A car brand notifies interested visitors at a showroom about a car giveaway. Yes

 

Messaging Throughput for Special Use Cases

Special use cases may have different messaging throughput when compared with standard use cases. The table below summarizes throughput for special use cases, with not-yet-finalized components marked as “TBD”:

Use Case AT&T MPS T-Mobile Daily Caps
Agents; franchise; local branches 1 per number

2k-200k

Depends on brand Trust Score
Charity / 501(c)(3) Nonprofit 40
K-12 Education 12 per number
Proxy 1 per number
Emergency 75
Social 1000
Political 75

With CV token: Unlimited

Without CV token: 2k-200k (Depends on Brand Trust Score)

Sweepstakes TBD TBD

 

Note: Verified Government entities will receive unlimited daily message caps on the T-Mobile network and 75 MPS on AT&T, regardless of which use case is selected. Standard Salesmate platform messaging rate limits still apply.

Pricing for Special Use Cases

Note: AT&T and T-Mobile will charge additional fees for messaging traffic that is not registered for A2P 10DLC beginning on March 1, 2022.

  • Special use cases may have different associated fees with 10DLC messaging than standard use cases. Some customers who successfully register for the K-12 Education and Emergency special use cases may be eligible for per-message fee waivers on the T-Mobile network. For more information and how to apply, please see this article.
Use Case Campaign Registration Fees* AT&T SMS Carrier Fees (Outbound) AT&T MMS Carrier Fees (Outbound) T-Mobile SMS Carrier Fees (Inbound or Outbound) T-Mobile MMS Carrier Fees (Inbound or Outbound)
Agents; franchise; local branches $30/month* $0.0030 $0.0035

$0.0030

 $0.0100
Charity / 501(c)(3) Nonprofit $3/month* $0.0000 $0.0000 $0.0000 $0.0000
K-12 Education $10/month* $0.0000 $0.0000 $0.0030** $0.0100**
Proxy $10/month* $0.0020 $0.0035

$0.0030

 $0.0100
Emergency $5/month* $0.0000 $0.0000 $0.0030** $0.0100**
Political $10/month* $0.0020 $0.0035 $0.0030 $0.0100
Social $10/month* TBD TBD $0.0030 $0.0100

Sweepstakes

 $10/month*  $0.0020 $0.0035 $0.0030 $0.0100

** Qualifying campaigns are eligible for a fee waiver with a special pricing review from T-Mobile. For more details on qualifications and how to apply, please see our guide on T-Mobile Special Business Reviews.

 

T-Mobile Message Fee Waivers for Special Use Cases

There are three special use case campaign types that are eligible for T-Mobile per-message fee waivers (SMS & MMS): Charity / 501(c)(3), K-12 Education, and Emergency.

Fee waivers are either applied automatically or require a Special Business Review from T-Mobile:

  • Automatic Fee Waivers
    • Charity / 501(c)(3): Fees waived automatically for all registered campaigns from brands verified as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. For more details on how 501(c)(3) status is verified and how fee waivers are applied, please see the Charity / 501(c)(3) FAQ.
  • Requires Special Business Review
    • K-12 Education: Campaign messages must either be sent directly by a K-12 educational institution, or provided as part of a free service offering for use by members of a K-12 educational institution. Standard T-Mobile rates will apply for Campaign messages that are part of a premium paid service offering for use by members.
    • Emergency: Campaign messages must be designed to support public safety/health during natural disasters, armed conflicts, pandemics, and other national or regional emergencies.

For more information on how to apply for fee waivers for K-12 Education and Emergency campaigns, please see our guide on T-Mobile Special Business Reviews

 

Eligibility and Approval Process

  • Most special use cases will either require additional vetting of your organization through an external partner or approval for the use case on a carrier-by-carrier basis. Relatedly, certain special use cases will only be available to certain types of organizations.
  • The table below summarizes the eligibility and approval process for 10DLC special use cases.
Use Case Limited to certain entity types? Minimum Brand Score Additional Vetting Required? Carrier Post-Approval Required?
Agents; franchise; local branches No 25 No Yes
Charity / 501(c)(3) Nonprofit 501(c)(3) Nonprofits No Minimum Yes No
K-12 Education No No Minimum No Yes
Proxy No 25 No Yes
Emergency No 25 No Yes
Political 527, 501(c)(4), 501(c)(5), 501(c)(6) Nonprofits No Minimum Yes
527: Campaign Verify token required
501(c)(4), (c)(5), (c)(6): No Campaign Verify token required		 No
Social No No Minimum Yes Yes
Sweepstakes No 50 Yes Yes

 

Additional Vetting

  • Additional vetting is required to gain access to certain 10DLC special use cases as requested by MNOs. For instance, 501(c)(3)s will be vetted by an external partner to gain access to the Charity / 501(c)(3) Nonprofit special use case. Vetting will occur automatically at the time of brand registration during 10DLC onboarding, and will not require additional actions from you as a customer to trigger vetting.

Additional Carrier Approvals

General Special Use Case FAQs

  • What if I need more than 200,000 messages per day on T-Mobile for my special use case campaign?
    All messaging campaigns requiring >200,000 daily messages on the T-Mobile network will need to go through a Special Business Review (SBR) process. For more details on this process see T-Mobile Special Business Review for A2P 10DLC.

Charity / 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Use Case FAQs

What kinds of organizations will be eligible for the Charity / 501(c)(3) Nonprofit use case?

  • Only nonprofits with the 501(c)(3) status are eligible for the Charity / 501(c)(3) Nonprofit special use case. Nonprofits with other designations (e.g. 501(c)(4), 501(c)(5), 527) are not eligible to register messaging campaigns under the Charity / 501(c)(3) Nonprofit use case. These organizations should either use the standard 10DLC use cases, or the Political use case (501(c)(4)s and 527s sending political messages).

What are the benefits of registering a messaging campaign as a Charity / 501(c)(3) Nonprofit?

  • The Charity / 501(c)(3) Nonprofit special use case is eligible for reduced/waived carrier fees associated with long code messaging for qualifying organizations. See the pricing table above for details.

How do T-Mobile carrier fee waivers work for Charity / 501(c)(3) use cases?

  • As of February 1, 2022, all verified 501(c)(3) organizations that register their Brand as a Nonprofit and messaging campaign as a 501(c)(3) / Charity campaign type will receive waivers for messages sent over T-Mobile’s network. In contrast to earlier T-Mobile policies, fee waivers are no longer limited to fundraising use cases, and organizations are no longer required to submit a special business review request in order to receive these benefits.
  • After registering your Nonprofit brand and 501(c)(3) / Charity campaign, you will automatically receive your applicable fee waiver for outbound messages sent over T-Mobile’s network. For inbound messages sent over T-Mobile, you will continue to see carrier fees reflected in your account when you receive messages, and Twilio will credit these carrier fees back to your account at month's end.
  • For more details on how 501(c)(3) status is verified during brand registration, see the question below.

How will my status as a 501(c)(3) be verified?

At the time of brand registration during 10DLC onboarding, your organization will be automatically vetted in the background to check if the brand info provided matches a registered 501(c)(3) organization in IRS tax-exempt records. A successful vetting is dependent on accurate information being provided about your organization during brand creation. If successful, this will expose Charity / 501(c)(3) Nonprofit as an eligible use case when registering your A2P 10DLC messaging campaign, and a tax-exempt status attribute will be applied to your brand information.

To check if your brand was successfully verified as a 501(c)(3), you can:

  • See if your list of available campaign types for registration includes Charity / 501(c)(3). This campaign type is only exposed for verified 501(c)(3) nonprofit brands.
  • Check that the tax_exempt_status attribute of your A2P Brand is set to "501c3" using this API endpoint. 

Are religious, healthcare, and educational organizations eligible for the Charity / 501(c)(3) Nonprofit use case even if they are not traditionally thought of as “charities”?

  • Any organization registered as 501(c)(3) is eligible for the Charity / 501(c)(3) Nonprofit use case. Organizations that are not registered as 501c3 organizations are not eligible for the Charity / 501(c)(3) Nonprofit use case. 

If I’m a 501(c)(3), can I register using standard use cases?

  • No, vetted 501(c)(3)s will only qualify for the Charity / 501(c)(3) Nonprofit and Emergency special use cases. Unless your use case meets the definition of the Emergency use case, you should register your campaigns using the Charity / 501(c)(3) Nonprofit use case. This is meant to be a simplifying assumption so 501(c)(3)s can receive the pricing benefits associated with the Charity / 501(c)(3) Nonprofit special use case.

Political Use Case FAQs

What kinds of organizations are eligible for the Political use case?

  • 527 Political organizations, 501(c)(4), 501(c)(5), and 501(c)(6) nonprofits are eligible for the Political special use case. This campaign type is not available to other entity types.

What is Campaign Verify?

  • Campaign Verify is a non-partisan, non-profit service for 527 organizations such as US political campaigns, parties, and PACs to verify their identity. Campaign Verify has been selected as an approved external vetting partner for the Political special use case. Its purpose is to validate that the sender is verified to be an actual politician or registered political candidate. 

Who needs to use Campaign Verify?

  • All 527 organizations sending long code messages for federal, state, and local political campaigns are required to obtain a Campaign Verify token and provide it during campaign use case registration on Twilio. This will unlock approval for the Political use case with higher messaging capacity (unlimited daily messages to T-Mobile).
  • 501(c)(4), 501(c)(5), 501(c)(6) nonprofits sending political/advocacy messages can register their use case as Political and benefit from higher throughput. 501(c)(4), 501(c)(5), 501(c)(6)s do not use Campaign Verify, and will not need to provide a Campaign Verify token during registration.
  • All registrants of the Political use case, regardless of whether a Campaign Verify token is provided will receive 75 MPS on AT&T.

I'm a 527 organization – how do I register?

  • 527s should register their A2P brand on Twilio with the "Nonprofit" entity type. Campaign Verify (CV) tokens will only be accepted for brands with this entity type.
  • Unlike 501(c) entities, 527 status will not be automatically detected and applied upon brand registration. Importing your Campaign Verify proves your 527 status and activates the special A2P benefits for your entity type. 527 organizations will not be able to complete Campaign use case registraiton until they import a Campaign Verify token.
  • A Campaign Verify token can only be imported one time for a single A2P brand, for security purposes. If a 527 is a customer of multiple text messaging providers that will each create an A2P brand on their behalf, a unique CV token will need to be generated and provided to each vendor.

What fees are associated with Campaign Verify?

  • There is a one-time fee from Campaign Verify per entity verification per two-year election cycle. Verification is $95 for all committee types.

How long does it take to get a token from Campaign Verify?

  • According to Campaign Verify, their verification process can take anywhere between 1-7 business days. Customers with questions about Campaign Verify registration should check out their FAQ or email support@campaignverify.org.

Do Campaign Verify tokens expire? How can I update my token?

  • Campaign Verify tokens do expire and will need to be periodically updated. Active Political use case campaigns will be deactivated upon Campaign Verify token expiration. CV verifications submitted prior to November 15, 2022 will be valid until January 31, 2023.

  • Effective January 31, 2023, all existing Campaign Verify Tokens for political verification requests that were obtained prior to November 15, 2022 will no longer be valid. 527 organizations need to apply for new Campaign Verify tokens for the next election cycle and import them to their existing Brand as a replacement. Campaign Verify opened up a new cycle for political verification requests on November 15, 2022. Tokens for verification requests submitted to Campaign Verify on November 15, 2022 and later will be valid until January 31, 2025.

  • Updating a Campaign Verify token after A2P brand registration will initially only be available via Twilio’s A2P APIs. Support for updating Campaign Verify tokens in the Console will be made available in the future.

What does a Campaign Verify token look like?

  • A full CV token is comprised of 6 pipe (|) delimited fields For example: cv|1.0|tcr|10dlc|9957c339-d46f-49b7-a399-2e6d5ebac66d|GQ3NMEjED8xSlaAgRXAXXBUNBT2AgL-LdQuPveFhEyy

Emergency Use Case FAQs

What kinds of organizations are eligible for the Emergency use case?

  • All entity types are eligible to register for the Emergency use case. Each messaging campaign will need to match the carriers’ specific definition of Emergency as “Notification services designed to support public safety/health during natural disasters, armed conflicts, pandemics, and other national or regional emergencies.” Every attempt to register a campaign with the Emergency special use case will need to go through an additional approval process on a carrier-by-carrier basis.

What is the benefit of registering with the Emergency special use case?

  • The Emergency special use case includes increased throughput as well as reduced/waived carrier fees. See above tables for pricing and throughput for details.

How can I get access to waived T-Mobile carrier fees for Emergency Use Cases?

K-12 Education Special Use Case FAQs

If I serve multiple schools, do I need a separate Campaign for each school? How do I split up my traffic?

  • ISV customers registering for K-12 Education are not required to create separate secondary brands for each K-12 school. Instead, a single K-12 Education Campaign under the ISV's own Brand can house phone numbers belonging to multiple schools.
  • However, if you serve some of your messaging traffic at no cost to your client school(s), you should register all your free traffic as a separate K-12 Education Campaign from your paid client traffic. Registering your free traffic separately from paid traffic will help ensure that you have the option to take advantage of the T-Mobile carrier fee waiver for K-12 use cases (see this article for details).

K-12 is listed as requiring carrier post-approval, what does that mean?

How can I get access to waived T-Mobile carrier fees for K-12 Special Use Cases?

Agents, Franchises, and Local Branches FAQs

Is there a limit to the number of phone numbers I can have in my Campaign?

  • Yes, there is a maximum of 5,000 numbers in a single Agents, Franchises, and Local Branches Campaign.
  • If you require more than 5,000 numbers due to having more than 5,000 agents or business locations, you will need to register one or more additional Campaigns of this type.

Post-Approval Special Use Case FAQs

Which Special Use Cases require Post-Approval?

The following Special Use Cases are classified as "post-approval" special use cases because they require additional carrier approvals immediately following registration:

  • Proxy (formerly Conversational)
  • Emergency
  • K-12 Education
  • Social
  • Agents, Franchises, and Local Branches
  • Sweepstakes

This means the carriers have elected to review all attempted registrations for this use case before allowing access to associated pricing and/or throughput benefits for the special use case. 

These campaign registrations can either be approved or rejected by the carrier ecosystem. Once approved, all SMS sent/received from the phone numbers in the Twilio Messaging Service you used to register the campaign will be routed as registered A2P messaging traffic. If rejected, you will not be able to send or receive A2P-registered SMS from the phone numbers in the Twilio Messaging Service until you re-register your campaign with an “automatic approval” use case.

What can I do to increase the likelihood that I am approved by the carriers for a post-approval use case?

  • Carefully review the use case definition and eligibility criteria from the special use case support article. Make sure that the messages that you will be sending adheres to the carrier-defined criteria — and reflect this in the campaign description and sample messages provided during campaign registration.

How long does it take for carriers to review a post-approval use case?

  • There is currently no SLA from the carrier ecosystem on how long carrier reviews will take. A Twilio representative will notify you of their decision by email.

If I’m currently sending unregistered messages from the phone numbers I associate with a post-approval campaign, will my messaging be disrupted while carriers review it?  

  • No. Twilio will not attempt to move the messaging traffic from unregistered “gray” routes to registered A2P routes until the point that the carriers approve the campaign. This means that messages will continue to be delivered as-normal on unregistered routes during the review period (in accordance with enforced throughput and pricing rules of unregistered messaging routes). In addition, the traffic will remain on unregistered routes if the carriers reject the campaign.

Who decides which campaigns are approved or rejected?

  • The decision to approve or reject a brand for a post-approval campaign sits entirely with the carriers — Twilio does not play a role in making these decisions. Twilio will notify you via email of the carriers’ decisions.

Why was my post-approval campaign rejected?

  • If rejected, this means that one or more carriers determined that based on the information provided during registration, the carriers determined that your use case did not meet the required criteria. At this time, Twilio does not have any additional information to provide as to the specific reasoning behind the rejection. One possible reason for the campaign rejection is carriers want you to use a different use case. For example, some campaigns registered as “Proxy” (f/k/a “Conversational”) should’ve been registered as “Customer Care” as per carriers.

What should I do if I registered a post-approval campaign that was rejected?

  • To begin sending A2P-registered traffic, please re-register your campaign with an “automatic approval” use case. Automatic approval use cases do not require additional carrier review and enable you to register your traffic immediately. Instructions for how to re-register a rejected campaign will be included in the email notification sent by the Twilio team.

How to register a Post-Approval Campaign

  • Campaign use case types that require post-approval are marked as such in the Console during the Register Campaign Use Cases step of the 10DLC registration process. They are categorized as Requires Carrier Review when selecting a use case from the Available A2P Campaign Use Cases dropdown.
  • ISVs will also be able to see which use cases require post-approval in the ISV API — specifically from the Fetch possible A2P campaign use cases endpoint. A new attribute called post_approval_required will be returned. If true, this means that the use case requires additional carrier review.

Monitoring the Status of a Post-Approval Campaign

  • After registering a campaign requiring post-approval, your campaign will be updated with a status of In Progress while the carriers review it. Please note: While the campaign is In Progress, Twilio might reach out on behalf of carriers for any clarifying questions that arise. These details may determine whether a campaign is approved/rejected, so customers should be on the lookout for emails anytime their campaigns are under review. 
  • Your traffic will not be moved to registered A2P routes until approved by carriers. If you are already sending messages using the associated Messaging Service on unregistered SMS routes, this will continue to function as normal in this state.

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