Due to regulatory changes in 2025 (enforced in 2026) alphanumeric Sender IDs used for messaging Australian-based recipients must be registered and approved on the Australian Communication and Media Authority’s ACMA’s Sender ID Register (“ACMA Assist”).
From July 1, 2026, any messages using unregistered Sender IDs in Australia will be overwritten as "Unverified". This is because the ACMA will start enforcing the Telecommunications (SMS Sender ID Register) Industry Standard 2025 and the SMS Sender ID Register (Application, Access and Administration) Determination 2025 (“the Regulation”) on this date.
Under the Regulation, ACMA requires that Twilio (as a certified telecommunications provider) offers to register Sender IDs on behalf of its alphanumeric Sender ID customers (current or prospective). The Regulation also requires that Twilio verifies information and documents collected from its Sender ID customers to complete Sender ID registration/s on ACMA Assist.
If you are a current or prospective Twilio customer, you can request that Twilio submit your Sender ID application/s to ACMA Assist. You are able to make that request and submit the necessary documents to support your application/s in Twilio Console.
For guidance on how to submit your information and documents in support of your application/s application using the new Console experience, please refer to: Register your Alphanumeric Sender ID for Australia in the Twilio Console.
Please read further below:
- For what the Regulation requires for Twilio’s verification process;
- If you are an Independent Software Vendors (ISV) customer, about Twilio partnerships;
- Answers to FAQs; and
- Additional regulatory information.
What you’re required to provide for your Sender ID applications
Twilio Console provides a secure way to submit the required information for verifications.
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Business/entity verifications
You must provide the following general details (*on the entity that is the Sender ID brand-owner):
- Legally registered name;
- Entity registration number;
- Website;
- Business address;
- Contact details (including email address of your representative).
*If you are an Independent Software Vendor (ISV), Twilio requires these same details about your/the ISV business (in addition to the entity that is the Sender ID brand-owner).
Specific documents for the verifications that need to be conducted under the Regulation (on the entity that is the Sender ID brand-owner) differ depending on if you are submitting an application on behalf of an Australian or an international business entity, as follows:
Australian business entity (with Australian Business Number (ABN):
If you are an Australian business entity:
- Operating under a Business Name (not a Company):
- a. An Australian Business Register (ABR)* Business Name Record extract, naming the authorized contacts for the business (should look like this sample: Business Name Record). *ABR link.
- Operating under a Company:
Either:
- b. An Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)* Company Extract, including the names of the entity’s directors or officers (should look like this sample: Current Company Extract);
Or:
- c. Your most recent Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)* Annual Company Statement, including the names of the entity’s directors or officers, and which should look like this sample: Annual Company Statement. *ASIC link
The extract you provide must name your selected Authorized Representative, or, an LOA will be required (see below, under “Authorized Representative”).
International business entity (non-ABN):
- An official business registry extract from the country or international State of incorporation must be provided;
- The extract you provide must name the Authorized Representative, or, an LOA will be required (see below, under “Authorized Representative”).
- Authorized Representative verifications
Under the Regulation, Twilio is required to complete verifications on Authorized Representatives.
If you are the Sender ID brand-owner, your Authorized Representative that requires verification is the person that you select to engage with Twilio for the purpose of your Sender ID application/s.
If you are an Independent Software Vendor (ISV), the Authorized Representative that requires verification is the person that represents your customer entity (the Sender ID brand-owner).
Under the Regulation, the Authorized Representative must:
- Submit a government-issued photo ID for identity verification purposes;
- Present a corporate email address (matching to Authorized Representative’s name (“freemail” addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, are not acceptable);
- If your selected Authorized Representative is NOT named as a director or officer or other authorized contact on the business extract evidence that you provide, Twilio will require a Letter of Authorization (LOA)). The LOA is to be signed by the named director or officer or other authorized contact person to demonstrate that your selected Authorized Representative is sufficiently authorized to act on behalf of the entity for the purpose of Sender ID registrations. Twilio’s Template LOA for this purpose is accessible under the “Need further help?” section below.
- Sender ID (use-case) verifications
Under the Regulation, Twilio is required to verify that you have a sufficient use-case match for your selected Sender ID based on ACMA criteria.
For each Sender ID you request Twilio to register, you must provide the “string” (i.e the characters of the Sender ID header you intend to register).
Your Sender ID “string” must be an exact match or a clear abbreviation, acronym, or initialism of the business entity or brand name, as supported by at least one of the following pieces of official evidence:
For an Australian business entity (ABN):
- Registered business name in the Business Names Register;
- Registered trademark in IP Australia’s Trade Mark Search;
-
Active domain name registered on WHOIS, and the domain name matches either:
- A legitimate website associated with the brand; or
- A corporate email address.
For an international business entity (non-ABN):
- A trademark certificate (or a digital record on an international trademarks database that is verifiable as relating to the entity); or
- An official business registry extract; or
- Active domain name on official international domain registration database, and the domain name matches either:
- A legitimate website associated with the brand; or
- A corporate email address.
ACMA Assist will auto-reject the submission of certain Sender IDs “strings” because of the length or characters in the Sender ID string or if it is otherwise a restricted word or term. Please refer to FAQ Q8, below for ACMA’s additional validation rules.
Information for Independent Software Vendors (ISVs)
If you are an ISV providing messaging services to your own customers, you are considered a telecommunications provider under the ACMA regulation. Twilio has the trusted status of certified telecommunications provider with the ACMA, meaning that you can partner with Twilio for the registration of your customer entities’ Sender ID on ACMA Assist, including where your customer entities’ are international.
Partnering with Twilio
As a certified telecommunications provider, Twilio can interface with ACMA Assist for the purpose of Sender ID registrations on behalf of your customer entities (whether they are domestic or international). Your acceptance of Twilio’s partnership terms (Sender ID Addendum | Twilio) is necessary for this arrangement.
You are able to accept these terms on Twilio Console at the time that you submit your applications for Twilio to register Sender IDs. For ISVs with an Australian Business Number (ABN), the Regulation requires that you to independently register as a participating telecommunications provider on ACMA Assist before Twilio can partner with you. If you don’t take this independent step, Twilio is restricted from connecting to you as our partner on ACMA Assist, which is necessary for us to complete Sender ID registrations on your customer entities’ behalf.
If you’re an ISV with an Australian Business Number (ABN) you could choose to manage the registration of your customers’ Sender ID completely independently of Twilio. However, in that case you’d be responsible for directly interfacing with ACMA Assist about those registrations (and would assume more responsibility to the ACMA, including the responsibility of conducting the necessary verifications on entities and their Sender IDs in compliance with ACMA’s regulation). Choosing to partner with Twilio means Twilio interacts with ACMA Assist on your behalf and takes responsibility for verifying and submitting registrations end-to-end (in accordance with the terms of the Sender ID Addendum | Twilio).
If you are an ISV without an ABN you are considered an International Telecommunications Service Provider and must partner with Twilio (or another certified provider) for: (a) registration of any Sender IDs, and for (b) the continuity of your Sender ID messaging services in Australia. In other words, International Telecommunications Providers must partner with a certified provider (like Twilio), and do not have the option of directly interface with ACMA Assist to complete registrations (to ensure their customer’s Sender ID messaging traffic will not be over-stamped).
For both Domestic and International ISV: Please fill out and return the ISV Information Form. We require these details (including the ISV Legal Business Name, ABN, Business Address and other info) because Twilio must officially add your organization as a partner within the ACMA Assist portal. Kindly note that this is a one time process.
What you’re required to provide for your end customer entity applications
If you’re an ISV, the general section above titled “What you’re required to provide for your applications” applies in the same way to your end customer entity applications. That means these same documents that are required for verification are required in relation to the end customer entity that is applying via Twilio for the registration of their Sender ID (the Sender ID brand-owner).
Twilio Console provides a secure way for ISVs to submit the required information for Twilio to conduct the necessary verifications conducted on your end customer entities.
What you can expect to happen after your information and documents are submitted on Twilio Console
Once you submit your documents and information on Twilio Console, we’ll review that and reach out if we need more information. Note: Need help submitting? Refer to Register your Alphanumeric Sender ID for Australia in the Twilio Console.
If your information and documents check out and your Sender ID meets ACMA requirements, we’ll submit an application to register your business/entity and Sender IDs on ACMA Assist. After ACMA Assist approves your application, we’ll set up the Sender ID for your account and let you know when it’s ready to use.
Important: Submit your request at the earliest to make sure your application is processed before July 1, 2026. Requests submitted after June 1, 2026, are at risk of not being processed in time and your Sender ID(s) could be overwritten as “Unverified”.
FAQs:
Q1: What’s changed in Australia?
A: To protect consumers from messaging fraud, ACMA has introduced a Sender ID Register (ACMA Assist). Starting July 1, 2026, all alphanumeric Sender IDs used to send messages to Australian recipients need to be approved on ACMA Assist.
Any Sender IDs that aren’t registered on ACMA Assist by July 1, 2026, will be overwritten as “Unverified”.
Q2: How do I register my Sender ID(s)?
A: You can submit your application to register Sender IDs via Twilio on Twilio Console.
Q4: What happens if my Sender ID(s) aren’t registered by July 1, 2026?
A: Your messages will still get delivered, but the Sender ID will be overwritten as "Unverified" instead of your brand name. This label is designed to help consumers identify potential scams. If it’s applied to your legitimate traffic (because your Sender IDs have not been registered on ACMA Assist), this could hurt your brand reputation and open rates.
Q5: I’ve already submitted compliance information for my Sender ID(s) to Twilio before. Do I need to do it again?
A: Yes. ACMA’s regulations require additional information and documentation for verification, including a government ID to check for your Authorized Representative. You'll need to submit the information and documentation as is relevant to your business entity, and as listed above.
Q6: I’ve already submitted compliance information for my Sender ID(s) to Twilio before. Do I need to do it again?
A: Yes. ACMA’s regulations require additional information and documentation for verification, including a government ID to check for your Authorized Representative. You'll need to submit the information and documentation as relevant to your business entity, and as listed out in the “What you’re required to provide for your Sender ID applications” above.
Q7: I’m an ISV customer. What do I need to do?
A: Please refer to the dedicated "Information for Independent Software Vendors (ISVs)" section above for detailed guidance.
Q8: What are the requirements for a valid “string” for a Sender ID in Australia?
A: Sender ID “strings” must:
- Be 2 to 11 characters long;
- Include only characters 32–126 from the American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) decimal codes. ASCII can be accessed free of charge at ascii-code.com;
- not solely consist of ‘restricted’ words published on the ACMA’s website (ACMA restricted terms);
- not consist only of numbers;
- not contain a space or underscore at the beginning or end;
- not contain the word ‘Unverified’;
- not be offensive, deceptive, or misleading;
- have a valid use case (e.g., it must match your registered business name, company name, trademark, or domain name – see “Sender ID (use-case) verifications” above for that information).
If your Sender ID doesn’t meet these requirements, it won’t be approved on ACMA Assist.
Q9: Are alphanumeric Sender IDs case-sensitive?
A: No. Alphanumeric Sender IDs are case-insensitive. For example, “MyBrand”, “MYBRAND”, and “mybrand” are considered identical for the purposes of registration and verification. However, it’s recommended to use consistent capitalization for branding and readability in your messages.
Q10: Can I register my entity/business directly on ACMA Assist?
A: If you’re an entity with an Australian Business Number (ABN), you can register your entity/business on ACMA Assist. However, you still need Twilio to register your Sender ID on ACMA Assist via the telco that you use to send messages.
The first step is for Twilio to submit your registration for the relevant Sender ID on ACMA Assist. Once we have done that, the person making the request for the entity will receive (email) instructions from the ACMA about how to access ACMA Assist and pass ACMA entity/business verification, which involves the ACMA checking personal ID. To pass this ACMA verification, the person making the request for the entity on ACMA Assist:
- must be listed as an authorised contact for the entity on the Australian Business Register (ABR), or be otherwise authorised by that entity; and
- must pass an identification check; and
- must agree to the Register’s terms of use.
We recommend registration of both your entity/business and Sender ID through Twilio, as we’ll handle the ID verification and Sender ID registration process end-to-end.
But if you do choose to independently register your entity/business on ACMA Assist, please reach out to senderid-notify@twilio.com so we are aware you are requesting that your applications be handled in this way.
If you are an ISV and you are selecting this option (on behalf of your-end user customers) please reach out to senderid-notify@twilio.com. This is so we are aware you are requesting that your end-user customer applications be handled in this way. This option is only available for your end-user customers with an ABN.
Q11: I am an ISV interested in using Twilio’s Compliance Embeddable for IDVerifications. What do I need to know?
If you are an ISV, Twilio’s Compliance Embeddable is an iframe element you can add to your existing web application to enable your-end user customers to self-serve through the Twilio console onboarding process for the registration of Sender IDs. The steps to enable are:
Contact your Twilio account team representative (and provide your parent twilio accounts ASID number for account embeddable enablement).
Begin trialing the embeddable by following the API Onboarding documentation.
To confirm your participation, you must complete the mandatory Usage Agreement. By submitting this form, you agree to the Sender ID Partnership Addendum and appoint Twilio as your partnering provider for your-end user customers Sender ID registrations in Australia.
Once enabled, your-end user customers can self-serve through the onboarding process on Twilio Console and submit the information and documentation for Sender ID onboarding. Check-out the section above about “What you can expect to happen after your information and documents are submitted on Twilio Console” for next steps.
Q12: My business “multi-sources” Sender ID messaging via various telcos. My entity/business and my Sender ID is already registered on ACMA Assist. Do I need to register again via Twilio?
Yes. This is a regulatory requirement if you intend to use the Sender ID on the Twilio platform. This is the case even if the Sender ID has been registered on ACMA Assist by another telco/messaging platform that you may use in addition to Twilio to send your messages.
Additional regulatory information
We’d like to make it clear that under the Regulation, your Sender ID belongs to the brand-owner. That’s even if we’ve offered (and you’ve accepted) our help to register the Sender ID(s) on ACMA Assist.
This means we’re not the only service provider that can send messages for you using that Sender ID once registered. The Sender ID brand that becomes registered to your entity is ultimately your own brand to use as you see fit. However, for each Sender ID, the Regulation requires that you register it with that platform or network provider that is sending messaging traffic using the Sender ID.
Additionally, under the ACMA Regulation (Telecommunications (SMS Sender ID Register) Industry Standard 2025), we’re required to provide you (as an existing or potential/prospective customer) the following additional information about the Regulation:
- Part 24B of the Telecommunications Act 1997 Act provided for the establishment of the ACMA’s SMS Sender ID Register (the Register);
- From 1 July 2026, if a sender identification message is sent which includes a sender identification that is not registered in the Register, the sender identification message will be labelled as ‘Unverified’;
- If an entity wishes to send sender identification messages, it must register its sender identification in the Register and ensure that it uses one or more participating telecommunications providers to send the sender identification messages;
- The following types of entities can be approved to make applications to register sender identifications in the Register:
- an individual;
- a body corporate; a corporation sole;
- a body politic;
- a government entity (within the meaning of the A New Tax System (Australian Business Number) Act 1999);
- a partner;
- any other unincorporated association or body of person;
- a trust;
- a superannuation fund (within the meaning of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993).
For an entity to be able to have its sender identification registered in the Register, the entity must demonstrate that it has a valid use case for the sender identification.
An entity can make an application to register its sender identification in the Register through a participating telecommunications provider that is an originating telecommunications provider. A list of all participating telecommunications providers that are originating telecommunications providers is available on the ACMA’s website.
Entities with an ABN
An entity with an ABN can make an application to register its sender identification through any participating telecommunications provider that is an originating telecommunications provider, or a partner of a participating telecommunications provider. In order to obtain approval to make such an application:
- the person making the request for the entity must be listed as an authorised contact for the entity on the Australian Business Register (ABR), or be otherwise authorised by that entity; and
- the person making the request must pass an identification check; and
- the person making the request must agree to the Register’s terms of use.
Once the provider has made the application for registration of the sender identification on behalf of an entity, the person making the request for the entity will receive instructions from the ACMA about how to access the Register.
Once the entity is approved by the ACMA, the entity will be able to confirm the registration of the sender identification.
Once the entity’s sender identification is registered, the entity can authorise other participating telecommunications providers to send messages using that sender identification.
An entity with an ABN can also register its sender identification through an originating telecommunications provider that is a certified telecommunications provider. (Twilio is a certified telecommunication provider that can accept applications for ABN entities).
Entities without an ABN
An entity without an ABN can only make an application to register its sender identification through an originating telecommunications provider that is a certified telecommunications provider or a partner of a certified telecommunications provider. That provider or partner will conduct similar checks to those that are outlined above with respect to an entity with an ABN entity.
An entity without an ABN will not be able to gain access to the Register and must make an application to register its sender identification through a provider that is a certified telecommunications provider.
Complaints
Twilio strives to serve all of our customers, including our existing or prospective customers that request that Twilio register their Sender ID(s) on ACMA Assist and use our platform for Sender ID messaging services.
However, we understand it doesn’t always play-out like this despite our good intent and efforts, and we are here to support you then, too.
If you have a complaint about our service or handling of your support issue, please refer to our Australian Complaints Handling Policy. Twilio is committed to resolve any complaints about our management of your Sender ID registration/s, and will do so in accordance with this Policy.
Need further help?
For additional information, see: