The ACMA is taking the next step to rebuild confidence in the use of telephone numbers and brands by commencing consultation on new regulatory arrangements for using SMS sender IDs. This follows an announcement earlier this week that the ACMA had made a new Telecommunications Numbering Plan.
In establishing protections for the use of SMS sent using text-based sender IDs (i.e. shortened business names that appear at the top of SMS messages), our aim is to restore consumer confidence that the brand identified in an SMS is legitimate and can be trusted.
This builds on previous work by the ACMA to register the Reducing Scam Calls and Scam SMS Code in July 2022. Under the Code, telcos have reported blocking over 2.3 billion scam calls (from December 2020) and over 857.4 million scam SMS (from July 2022) to December 31, 2024.
The ACMA is now consulting on arrangements to support the implementation of the mandatory SMS sender ID register announced by the government in late 2024 as part of its Fighting Scams initiative.
The draft Telecommunications (SMS Sender ID Register) Industry Standard 2025 sets out proposed rules that will disrupt SMS scams impersonating well-known brands and government agencies and restore trust in SMS’ that use sender IDs as a safe communications channel.
The rules will require telcos to confirm that messages sent using text-based sender IDs are from a registered sender ID. SMS sent using unregistered sender IDs would be over-stamped with the warning ‘Likely SCAM’.
The register will commence by December 15, 2025.
The consultation package is available online, and submissions close on April 28, 2025.
In parallel to this consultation, the ACMA is exploring the feasibility of a range of other innovative scam reduction initiatives that are potentially applicable to the telco sector. This work will help inform considerations of what other scam controls will be effective in Australia in the short to medium-term future.
