SMS Sender ID Register – terms and conditions for telcos and message providers

About these terms and conditions

The ACMA has established and maintains the SMS Sender ID Register (register). The register helps protect consumers, and legitimate entities that send SMS/MMS to Australian mobile numbers, by disrupting messages that use unregistered alphanumeric sender IDs (sender IDs). 

These terms and conditions of use apply to telecommunications providers (carriers, carriage service providers and electronic messaging service providers) and other entities that access and use the register. 

Compliance with these terms and conditions is a requirement in section 17 of the SMS Sender ID Register (Application, Access and Administration) Determination 2025, which has been made under subsection 484L(2) of the Telecommunications Act 1997.   

The ACMA may terminate your access to the register and your register account and take all necessary steps to prevent you from accessing the register or any successor service at any time and for any reason. This includes, for example, if you breach these terms and conditions or we believe that termination of your access to the register is necessary to prevent or lessen a risk to the security or integrity of the register. 

Register users will be required to agree to future amendments of these terms and conditions at the time they come into effect, as a condition of continued access to 
the register.

Disclaimer

  1. The ACMA has exercised reasonable care in maintaining the register. However, given the nature of the information it contains, and the variety of sources from which that information is drawn, the ACMA does not warrant that the information available in the register is accurate, current or complete.
  2. While the ACMA will use reasonable efforts to rectify any issues with the register, we make no guarantee that the register or your access to it will be continuously available, uninterrupted and fault or error free.
  3. No liability is, or will be, accepted by the ACMA or the Commonwealth of Australia, or its officers, employees or agents for any loss suffered, whether arising directly or indirectly, due to reliance on information in the register. This also includes, but is not limited to, any loss or damage arising as a result of reliance on incomplete or inaccurate information that may be contained in the register, or that may occur due to any system or other interaction with the register.
  4. If you breach any of these terms and conditions, a failure by the ACMA to pursue legal action or to enforce any remedy against you in relation to that breach will not constitute a waiver of our legal rights.
  5. Any waiver of these terms and conditions will only be effective if it is in writing and signed by a representative of the ACMA.
  6. These terms and conditions incorporate the provisions of the disclaimer (including information about security), which is available on the ACMA website.

General terms and conditions for using the register

  1. By accessing and using the register, you acknowledge and agree to these terms and conditions.
  2. These terms and conditions:
    1. Are governed by the laws of the Australian Capital Territory, and you agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the Australian Capital Territory.
    2. Apply to you in addition to the terms of use of myID. The terms of use of myID are available on the myID website.
    3. Are specific to the SMS Sender ID Register only and do not affect any terms or conditions that apply to your use of any other service provided by the ACMA or any other agency.
  3. By accessing or using the register you are confirming that:
    1. If you do not adhere to the terms and conditions, the ACMA may terminate your access to the register and your register account, and take all necessary steps to prevent you from accessing the register or any successor service.
    2. You are authorised to use or access the register by the telecommunications provider or entity you represent, and, if you are using or accessing the register on behalf of another person or entity, that you are authorised to do so.
    3. You will keep your account, and the password to your account, secure at all times and you must not share your log in details with any other unauthorised person.
    4. You have read and considered these terms and conditions and acknowledge and agree to them.
    5. You have read and considered the legal instruments referred to in the Terms and Conditions of Use and agree to act in accordance with those legal instruments as applicable to your organisation.
    6. You will take all necessary steps to ensure information is accurate before inputting data in the register or using any of the information available in the register.
    7. To the maximum extent permitted by law, you will at all times indemnify the ACMA against any loss or liability arising from:
      1. any failure by you to ensure the security and integrity of your account and the password to your account
      2. any breach by you of these terms and conditions
      3. any use of the register (including your account) other than in accordance with these terms and conditions
      4. any wilful, negligent or unlawful act or omission by you in relation to the use of the register (including your account)
    8. You consent to the receipt of communications by email and to accept notices by way of email (in electronic form) from the ACMA relevant to the register.
    9. You agree to update contact information in the register as soon as practicable after a change occurs and in any event within 7 days of any change occurring, (including contact email address/es). If you are a business administrator, you agree to remove any authorised users or business administrators that are no longer authorised (for example, they are no longer employed by your organisation) as soon as practicable. You also agree to undertake 6-monthly reviews of all contact information.
    10. You agree to advise the ACMA immediately if the security of your account has been compromised.
    11. You agree to provide notification in writing to the ACMA as soon as practicable upon learning of any unauthorised access to, or unauthorised disclosure of, register data.
    12. You agree that any suspected bugs, system issues or functionality enhancements will be communicated solely to the ACMA in writing as soon as practicable.
  4. By accessing or using the register you agree that you will not knowingly do or attempt to do any of the following:
    1. breach these terms and conditions
    2. obtain unauthorised access to any part of this register
    3. attempt to deface, hack or otherwise interfere with the register or any material, information or content contained in or displayed on the register
    4. publish, reproduce, upload or post any aspect of the register for any purpose
    5. use or attempt to use the register or its contents for any unlawful or unauthorised purpose, or for any purpose for which it was not intended, including to send, post or publish unlawful, defamatory or intimidatory material
    6. attempt to pass yourself or another user off as another person or entity when using the register
    7. intentionally or negligently input inaccurate data to the register
    8. use or attempt to use the register in a manner inconsistent with the legal instruments set out below or in a way that is likely to cause loss or damage to the ACMA or any other person
    9. transfer or attempt to transfer any material of any kind to the register or ACMA Assist website which contains a virus, malicious computer code or any harmful component.
  5. These terms and conditions may change from time to time. The ACMA will notify you of changes to the terms and conditions in the register portal, and you will be prompted to agree to the terms and conditions when they are updated as a condition of continued access to the register.  

Legal instruments

  1. References to ‘legal instruments' used in these terms and conditions are references to the:
    1. Telecommunications (SMS Sender ID Register) Industry Standard 2025
    2. Telecommunications Act 1997
    3. SMS Sender ID Register (Application, Access and Administration) Determination 2025.

Note: All legal instruments are available on the Federal Register of Legislation at legislation.gov.au. 

Miscellaneous

  1. If any provision of these terms and conditions is held by a court or tribunal of competent jurisdiction to be invalid or unenforceable, all remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect as if such invalid or unenforceable provision had never been included.
  2. The use of ‘include(s)’, ‘including’, ‘such as’ or other terms indicating an example in these terms and conditions shall not be construed exhaustively. This means that wherever examples are provided, there is no implication that there are no other examples. 

Privacy

  1. The Privacy Act 1988 imposes obligations on the ACMA in relation to the collection, security, quality, access, use and disclosure of personal information. These obligations are detailed in the Australian Privacy Principles, which are found in Schedule 1 of the Privacy Act 1988.
  2. The ACMA's privacy policy is available here.
  3. The ACMA will only use personal information for the purpose for which it has been provided. Any personal information collected in relation to the operation of the register will be used for the administration of our functions under the register. Part 24B of the Telecommunications Act 1997 enables us to make registered sender IDs and the identities to which those sender IDs relate publicly available (excluding personal information within the meaning of the Privacy Act 1988).
  4. You must not include any personal information about another individual without the individual’s consent when submitting register applications.
  5. You understand that if the ACMA does not collect some or all of the personal information from you for the purposes referred to in clause 17, it may cause delays in your ability to obtain access to the register to submit/confirm applications and our ability to process those applications. 

Release of information provided to the ACMA 

  1. The ACMA may be required by law to release information provided to it, including under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 or through court and parliamentary processes. We generally seek to consult with submitters of confidential information before that information is provided to another party but may nonetheless be required to release that confidential information through these processes. 

Sharing of information provided to the ACMA 

  1. Under the Australian Communications and Media Authority Act 2005 (the ACMA Act), if the information the ACMA has obtained from you is authorised disclosure information under the ACMA Act, we may disclose it in the circumstances specified in Part 7A of the ACMA Act. This may include disclosure to persons and bodies including the Minister for Communications, authorised officials of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts, Royal Commissions, and other regulatory and administrative bodies in certain instances. We may also disclose certain types of information, such as summaries and statistics that are not likely to enable the identification of a person, and information already publicly available.
Last updated: 05 December 2025
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