Australia’s new anti-scam rules take effect on 1 July 2026. The key feature of these rules is that sender IDs that appear at the top of SMS and MMS messages can only be used after this date if the sender has registered their sender ID with their telco.
Any business who sends branded SMS and MMS and fails to complete their registration by 1 July, will see their messages labelled as ‘unverified’ instead by default. Those messages will be included in a single ‘unverified’ message string, together with all other messages from business who have not registered and potential scam messages.
Customers are unlikely to trust ‘unverified’ messages, and are more likely to ignore or delete them. The impact of being unable to reliably message customers is obvious, and so any business who has not registered should do so quickly.
If you are a business who sends branded SMS and MMS, this is what you need to do:
To register a sender ID, you will need an Australian Business Number (ABN) with an up-to-date authorised contact or service of notice email address in the Australian Business Register (ABR). We recommend these steps:
- Check your authorised contact details are up to date on the ABR, and if they are out of date, update them.
- Contact your telecommunications provider and provide the requested business details so it can register for a Sender ID on your behalf. Telecommunications and messaging providers have obligations under the SMS Sender ID Register industry rules to assist their customers through this process.
- Respond to ACMA requests sent to your registered ABR address to complete verification requirements.
If you would like to understand what these changes mean for your organisation and assistance implementing the SMS Sender ID Register rules, please get in touch with any of the partners from our Digital and IP team – Alex Hutchens, Melissa Miller or Belinda Breakspear.