SMS Sender ID Register – rules for telcos

The Telecommunications (SMS Sender ID Register) Industry Standard 2025 helps the SMS Sender ID Register to operate by setting rules that telcos must follow. 

The standard defines telcos as:

• carriage service providers
• carriers
• electronic messaging service providers (message providers).

All Australian telcos involved in sending, transiting or terminating SMS/MMS messages that include sender IDs must:

• apply to the ACMA to participate in the register
• comply with the standard.

The rules directly affect how these telcos operate. 

The key rules in the standard are:

• Participate – to continue to send, transit or terminate text messages with sender IDs from 1 July 2026, you must apply to the ACMA to participate in the SMS Sender ID Register.
• Inform customers – originating telcos must advise all existing and new customers about the register and publish information about the register on your website.
• Register sender IDs – originating telcos must offer to register sender IDs on behalf of customers.
• Verify – originating telcos must verify that customers have a clear and legitimate reason to use a sender ID (such as it matching their business name or trademark).
• Over-stamp – from 1 July 2026, if you send or terminate text messages, you must over-stamp all unregistered sender IDs with ‘Unverified’.

Refer to Parts 2 and 3 of the Telecommunications (SMS Sender ID Register) Industry Standard 2025.

There are also general rules that apply to all telcos, regardless of whether they carry SMS/MMS sender ID traffic. These rules:

• prohibit telcos who have not been approved to participate in the register from sending, transiting or terminating SMS/MMS messages with sender IDs
• require all carriage service providers that supply public mobile telecommunications services to provide notifications to consumers about what happens when a SMS/MMS message is sent with a registered or unregistered sender ID. 

Refer to Parts 3 and 7 of the Telecommunications (SMS Sender ID Register) Industry Standard 2025.

The SMS Sender ID Register is part of the government’s Fighting Scams initiative to address scams and online fraud and protect Australians from financial harm. 

The register will protect consumers, and organisations that send SMS/MMS messages to consumers, by disrupting scam messages that use sender IDs. A sender ID is the short alphanumeric header used in text messages to show who the message is from, such as ‘ATO’ or ‘myGov’.

All messages from the same sender ID are grouped together in a single message thread on the recipient’s mobile device, further cementing the association between the message and the sender.

Protecting Australians from phone scams

The register complements existing scam protection measures, including those under the Reducing Scam Calls and Scam SMS Industry Code that place obligations on telcos to monitor, trace and block scam calls and SMS.

The ACMA plays a key role in combating scams as the regulator for communications. Find out more about our anti-scam work.