Global billing types

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Global RCS billing types apply to traffic outside the United States. Each type reflects how a message is classified based on its content, format, and whether it is part of a conversational session between a business and an end user.

Type	Description
Basic message	An application-to-person (A2P) message that: Contains only text (no media or suggested actions). Does not exceed 160 bytes in UTF-8 encoding. Conversational agents only: If a person-to-application (P2A) message is delivered as a response to an A2P message within the next 24 hours, the basic message becomes part of an A2P conversation. Otherwise, the session terminates. A basic message is always delivered from an agent to a user.
Single message	An application-to-person (A2P) message that: Contains multimedia or text that exceeds 160 bytes in UTF-8 encoding. And/or contains suggested reply or any of suggested actions. Conversational agents only: If a P2A message is delivered as a response to an A2P message within the next 24 hours, the basic message becomes part of an A2P conversation. Otherwise, the session terminates. A basic message is always delivered from an agent to a user.
A2P conversation	Conversational agents only: An A2P conversation is initiated when a P2A message is delivered within 24 hours of an A2P single message or A2P basic message. Note If a P2A message is delivered within 24 hours of multiple A2P messages, only the A2P message that immediately preceded the P2A message is used to create the conversation session. This A2P message, along with any messages delivered within the next 24 hours, are part of the new A2P conversation.
P2A conversation	Conversational agents only: A person-to-application (P2A) conversation is initiated when the following requirements are met: There is no active session (A2P single message, A2P conversation, or P2A conversation) A P2A message is delivered The business responds within 24 hours

Mobile terminated (A2P) session/conversation scenarios

A2P scenario 1

The brand sends a message (MT 1) to the end user, to which the end user responds with MO 1, triggering session billing. The session lasts 24 hours, starting from the end user's response (MO 1). The first message from the brand (MT 1) is also included in session billing.

A2P scenario 2

The brand sent a message to which the end user never responded. The message is being billed as single/basic.

A2P scenario 3

The brand sent two messages within 24 hours. Each time a brand sends a message, the time period resets and starts again for the next 24 hours. That means that MT1 will be billed as a single message. The rest of the communication is within the scope of the session (which lasts 24 hours).

A2P scenario 4

The brand sent a message (MT 1) to which the end user (MO 1) responded after 24 hours. This MT1 message is being billed as single/basic. In this case, the end user's response (MO 1) has not triggered any session or any type of billing. This is only because MT 2 also occurred after 24 hours of the MO 1 message. So, after the second MT2 message from the brand, the session procedure is the same as in scenario 1.

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Mobile originated (P2A) session/conversation scenarios

P2A scenario 1

This example shows P2A communication, where the end user initiates the communication. A 24-hour window session starts with an MOx message prior to A2P, and all A2P messages from that point are billed as a session (until the 24-hour window runs out).

P2A scenario 2

In the case of multiple MO messages, only the last MO message (in this case, MO3) prior to MT1 will start the 24-hour window session, and the same logic applies as in P2A scenario 1.

• MO1 - 9:00 - 24-hour window begins
• MO2 - 10:00 - 24-hour window begins
• MO3 - 11:00 - 24-hour window begins
• MT1 - 24:00 - first message
• MO4 - 9:00 next day
• MT2 - 10:59:59 - 24-hour session ends

P2A scenario 3

This scenario covers a situation where there was no response to the brand message (MT 1) in a 24-hour period. Even though the end user responded (MO 1) after some point, this response was after the first 24-hour session period, which means this is the beginning of a P2A session.

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Tracking billing with webhooks

RCS webhooks include a trafficType field that reports the billing classification applied to each message. This field maps to the global billing types as follows:

trafficType value	Billing type
BASIC	Basic message (global)
SINGLE	Single message (global)
A2P_CONVERSATION	A2P conversation (global)
P2A_CONVERSATION	P2A conversation (global)

Conversation tracking:

When a conversational billing session starts, you receive a Conversation Started webhook event. This event includes a conversation.id field that identifies the session. Subsequent messages during the 24-hour session window include the same conversation.id in their webhooks.

For webhook configuration and field definitions, see Billing transparency in webhooks.