Beneficiary accounts are useful when multiple accounts need different service configurations but share a single balance. Accounts that contain only service configuration are called beneficiary accounts. A beneficiary account is linked to a regular account and inherits its billing configuration, including balance, service volumes allocated within bundles, and tariff rates. In this model, the regular account acts as the sponsor for its beneficiary accounts.
When a beneficiary account uses the service, the charges and bundle consumption are applied to the sponsor account. xDRs are also created for the sponsor account, even though the beneficiary account is the account using the service.
To configure this, the administrator creates a sponsor account for the Sales department, assigns a 500-minute bundle to it, and then creates beneficiary accounts for the Sales employees linked to the sponsor account. All Sales beneficiary accounts use the same shared bundle.
The administrator then creates a separate sponsor account for the Support department, assigns a 100-minute bundle to it, and creates beneficiary accounts for the Support employees under that sponsor account. All Support beneficiary accounts use that shared bundle.
As a result, each department uses its own shared bundle, and service consumption is tracked separately for Sales and Support.
Unlike account aliases, beneficiary accounts can have their own service configuration, such as a dedicated SIM card, individual extension, or separate service policy. Service features can only be configured for the services included in the sponsor’s main product.
Customers can use the self-care portal for beneficiary account owners to manage individual service features (e.g., configure the auto-attendant). Beneficiary account owners can also access the self-care web interface to update personal information, change the IVR language, or modify call forwarding settings.
Activities of sponsor and beneficiary accounts
The table below compares the activities of sponsor and beneficiary accounts:
| Activity | Sponsor accounts | Beneficiary accounts |
|---|---|---|
| Account configuration | Any account automatically becomes a sponsor when a beneficiary account is created and linked to it. To remove the sponsor role from the account, terminate all its beneficiary accounts. | A beneficiary account can only be created as a new account linked to a regular account. A beneficiary account cannot be converted into a regular account or used as a sponsor. |
| Service configuration | Can have their own service configuration, separate from their beneficiary accounts. | Can also have their own service configuration, for example, voicemail or a different access policy. Service features can be overridden at the account level. |
| Product configuration change | Allowed. The main product can be changed, and add-on products can be assigned or removed. | Not allowed. A beneficiary account inherits its product configuration from the sponsor account. |
| Bundle usage | Share their bundles with all beneficiary accounts. | Use the bundles assigned to the sponsor account. When a bundle is exhausted or a call is not covered by the bundle, charges are applied to the sponsor account. |
| Subscription assignment | Allowed, both via product (main or add-ons) and directly. All recurring charges are applied to the sponsor account. | Restricted. Add-on products with included subscriptions can be assigned to a beneficiary account, though all recurring charges are applied to the sponsor account. |
| xDR history | Includes their own xDRs and the xDRs generated by all beneficiary accounts. These xDRs contain the beneficiary account ID. | Includes only those sponsor account’s xDRs that are generated for the beneficiary account. |
| Balance and payments | Show their own balance or available funds. Account owners can top up the account balance. | Show the sponsor account’s balance. Account owners cannot top up the account balance. |
| Life cycle | Have their own life cycle, independent of their beneficiary accounts. If the sponsor account expires, services for all beneficiary accounts are blocked. | Have their own life cycle. The date of the last usage is updated for both sponsor and beneficiary accounts. Expiration of a beneficiary account does not affect service availability for the sponsor account or other beneficiary accounts. |
| Status change | Any status change affects service availability for both the sponsor and its beneficiary accounts. For example, if the sponsor account is blocked, services are unavailable for the sponsor account and all its beneficiary accounts. | A status change of the beneficiary account does not affect the sponsor account or other beneficiary accounts. |
| Self-care access | Allowed. | Allowed. |
| API access under account realm | Allowed. | Allowed. Billing-related operations (transactions, payments, subscription management) are not available. |
