Under the Telecommunications Act 1997 Telecommunications (SMS Sender ID Register) Industry Standard 2025 (the “Standard”), any business or organisation that sends its customers Short Message Service (SMS) or Multimedia Message Service (MMS) messages must confirm details about their sender identification (Sender ID) to a government-regulated register before sending, transiting, or terminating these messages. The Standard also places obligations on telecommunications providers relating to tracing and reporting of scam messages.

As part of these obligations, any SMS/MMS message senders (“Senders”), including those who send any messages via a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform (including BookItLive), must register a SMS Sender ID before sending, transmitting, or terminating their SMS/MMS messages.

From July 1, 2026, any SMS message sent using a Sender ID that has not been registered to the SMS Sender ID Register (the “Register”) will be ‘overstamped’ (replaced) with a Sender ID of “Unverified”.

If you wish to continue sending SMS messages to your customers using your designated Sender ID from your BookItLive Notification Settings page, this Sender ID must be added to the Register if you wish to continue sending SMS messages (whether automated or manual) via the BookItLive web application under that Sender ID.

Any of the following business entities are advised to make an SMS Sender ID registration application to the Register in order to continue sending SMS/MMS messages using their Sender ID of choice:

  • An individual
  • A body corporate
  • A corporation sole
  • A body politic
  • A government entity
  • A partnership
  • Any other unincorporated association or body of persons
  • A trust
  • A superannuation fund

In order to make a successful submission for a SMS Sender ID registration, a valid use case for using the designated Sender ID must be demonstrated to the Register. A valid use case is evidence that the proposed Sender ID is clearly linked or recognisable to the organisation making the Sender ID registration request. This could be the full organisation name or a shortened version, acronym, or abbreviation of the organisation name (in the Business Names Register or Australian Business Register), registered trademark (in the Register of Trade Marks), or domain name (in the whois.auda.org.au database). For example, a valid use case for the “Australian Tax Office” might be a Sender ID of “ATO”.

You are entitled to request BookitLive – a registered participating telecommunications provider – to register your Sender ID on your behalf.

Under the Standard, BookItLive must make any records of SMS Sender ID registration on behalf of its clients available to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) within 5 business days of receiving a written request from ACMA to provide such information.

What BookItLive would need from you to register your SMS Sender ID

If you have an Australian Business Number (ABN), BookItLive – as an approved participating originating telecommunications provider – can make an application to register your existing or desired Sender ID to the Register on your behalf to the ACMA.

In order to obtain approval for your Sender ID to be added to the Register, BookItLive would need the following business information from you:

  • Your business’ valid ABN
  • Your business’ head office street address, including:
  • Street number and name
  • Suburb
  • Postcode
  • Your business’ official website
  • Your business’ (generic) telephone number (not tied to an individual of the business)
  • Your desired SMS Sender ID

BookItLive would also require from you the details of an authorised contact for your business who is listed on the Australian Business Register (ABR), as they have been given on the ABR, to ensure the success of this requirement

  • Authorised contact first name
  • Authorised contact last name
  • Authorised contact email address
  • Authorised contact direct (mobile) phone number (tied to the designated authorised contact individual)

 

The authorised contact of your business must pass an identification check (conducted by ACMA) and must agree to the terms of use of the Register.

Following the application made on your behalf by BookItLive, you will eventually receive a notification from ACMA instructing you how to access the Register.

Once ACMA has approved the application for your Sender ID in the Register, you will be required to give final approval of use of that Sender ID via your business’ ACMA Assist account.

Please be aware that, once your SMS Sender ID has been successfully registered:

  • ACMA may charge costs for registration of your Sender ID, including potential annual ongoing administration charges.
  • Once your Sender ID has been added to and approved under the Register, you can give approval for any other telecommunications providers that you may use to send SMS messages using the same registered SMS Sender ID.

If you do NOT have an ABN 

  • If you wish to continue sending SMS/MMS messages using your designated Sender ID, you must provide relevant business information to BookItLive for BookItLive to submit to a partnered certified telecommunications provider. This partnered certified telecommunications provider will then conduct checks against your business and the business information provided on behalf of BookItLive.
  • The following details are relevant business information for registering a SMS Sender ID as a non-ABN entity:
    • Business registration number, if one exists
      • Your official number from their country’s business register (e.g. Companies House number for UK, NZBN for NZ, EIN for US)
    • Registered business entity name
      • Your full legal business name as it appears on your local official business register
    • Business address
      • Your registered head office address
    • Business website
      • Your official company website URL
    • Business phone number
      • A general business contact number for their company
    • Authorised business representative, a person authorised to act on behalf of your customer’s business for identity verification
      • Name; and
      • Corporate email address; and
      • Direct phone number
    • Government-issued photo ID of the authorized representative
      • Valid passport or national ID or driver’s license

 

For more information about the SMS Sender ID, please visit https://www.acma.gov.au/sms-sender-id-register.

To request BookItLive to apply for an SMS Sender ID on your behalf, please submit a support request at https://support.bookitlive.net/support/home.