What this means for you
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is introducing new SMS Sender ID rules. From 1 July 2026, businesses will need to register their alphanumeric senders with the ACMA. An alphanumeric sender is a name that appears in the “from” field when someone receives an SMS message. A business SMS might be from “AusPost” or “JoesPizza” rather than a mobile number.
When the new rules come in, unregistered Sender IDs will be overwritten with “Unverified”. This will apply to all messages sent to Australian mobile numbers.
This is an important move to protect Australians from SMS based fraud. It will also improve trust and help make business SMS, including marketing, more trustworthy and a more valuable communications channel.
Impact Data is registered as a participating telco with the ACMA. This means we can register SMS Senders for our customers.
The registration process is straightforward and will require an authorised contact from your ABN listing authorising the request, this prevents other people registering and using your business name. You will need to access you own ACMA Assist portal to confirm Sender ID registrations for your ABN.
We suggest to prepare you make sure your ABR (Australian Business Register) information is up to date now.
The Sender ID you register must match, or be a contraction of, at least one of
- Your business name from the Business Names Register
- Your business name from the Australian Business Register
- One of your registered trademarks from IP Australia’s Trade Mark Search
- Your registered domain in Whois
Your SMS Sender needs to clearly represent your business so that recipients can trust the message from your organisation.
For more information, see https://www.acma.gov.au/sms-sender-id-register.
SMS Sender IDs FAQs
- Do I need to register my SMS Sender ID even if I don’t use SMS marketing at the moment?
We encourage you to complete the registration, as it is one of the ways the ACMA is helping to reduce spam and scams. It also means that you can add SMS as a marketing channel to your campaigns whenever you like without being marked as ‘unverified’.
- Do I need to action this immediately?
Whilst the deadline is 1 July, we want TalkBox customers to avoid any disruption. Please action immediately in case there are any queries or issues we need to assist you with.
- I am not an Authorised Person for my organisation. How do I find out who it is?
The Authorised Person for your organisation is the contact person associated with your ABN. This will likely be the business owner, Company Secretary or CEO. This is the person who will need to access the ACMA Portal and complete the registration process.
- Do I have to register with other providers?
If your business uses SMS in other ways, for example, for order notifications or multi-factor authentication, you will need to complete a similar registration process with these providers to avoid disruption.
- Where can I get more information and assistance about the SMS Sender ID process?
The Process – The ACMA Website – SMS Sender ID Register
How TalkBox is assisting – TalkBox Support Centre
If you are a TalkBox customer, we will be in contact with you via email to prepare you for the registration process. If you don’t receive TalkBox newsletters, contact us at support@impactdata.com.auand we will ensure your details are updated.
