Proposed SMS Sender ID Register fees

What the ACMA has proposed

On 4 November 2026, the ACMA published a consultation paper on how to recover the cost of running the SMS Sender ID Register. The Register started on 1 July 2026. Today it is free to use.

The ACMA proposes that, from 1 July 2027:

• You would pay an application fee for each sender ID when it is registered. The ACMA would not register a sender ID until the fee is paid.
• A registration lasts 12 months. To keep a sender ID on the Register, you re-register it and pay the fee again every year.
• The indicative fee is about $17 to $25 per sender ID. It can change from year to year, and it would rise if fewer sender IDs are registered.
• The fee is the same for a registration of only 3 months.
• You pay the fee even if the ACMA does not approve the sender ID.
• The ACMA does not propose a fee to become a participating business or organisation. The proposed fee is only for each sender ID.
• Sender IDs already on the Register are not charged for the past. But every existing owner would have to re-apply, through a new application process, and pay.

The ACMA also asks whether:

• telcos should pay the fee to the ACMA with each application, and recover it from their customers;
• every registration should end on the same date, 30 June, each year;
• charities, not-for-profit organisations and government agencies should pay a lower fee, or no fee.

Separately, the ACMA is considering a levy on telcos for the cost of administering the Register rules, and of compliance and enforcement. It says it may consult the affected telcos on that later.

Charging cannot start until the ACMA consults on a Regulatory Charging Statement and the arrangements are approved. The ACMA expects that to happen during the 2027-28 financial year.

Where the $17 to $25 comes from

The ACMA estimates the Register's operational costs at $1.6 million in 2027-28, and $1.7 million in each of the two years after. It bases the indicative fee on $1.6 million, divided by the number of sender IDs on the Register:

The ACMA rounds these figures and calls them approximate: the exact divisions give about $17.86 and $25.64. It says the final cost depends on further analysis.

On 19 October 2026, the Register held 62,406 sender IDs from 42,148 businesses and organisations, with 499 participating telcos. About 800 new applications arrive each week. The ACMA expects the fee to fall over time, as more sender IDs are registered.

The Government provided $10.9 million over four years from 2023-24 to establish and enforce the Register ($10.5 million for the ACMA and $0.4 million for the Department), plus $2.2 million per year from 2028-29.

What it would cost your business

The fee is for each sender ID, not for each business. A business that sends texts under several names would pay for each name, every year.

For example, a clinic that sends appointment reminders under one name would pay about $17 to $25 per year. A group with ten trading names, locations or brands would pay about $170 to $250 per year.

The paper does not say whether GST applies to the fee. It also does not say whether a business that sends the same sender ID through more than one telco would pay more than once.

Who would pay the ACMA

The ACMA says that the vast majority of applications to register a sender ID come through a telco, not from the business itself. The telco or message provider lodges the application, and the ACMA may contact the business at the email address in its Australian Business Register record. That is how Bulk SMS registers sender IDs for its customers.

So the ACMA asks a practical question: should the telco pay the fee to the ACMA with each application, and then recover it from the customer? Our submission proposes the other way: the ACMA bills each business itself.

The paper notes that telcos already charge fees for sender ID services. Bulk SMS does not: we lodge our customers' sender IDs at no charge today. We have not decided what we would do if the ACMA's fee goes ahead. If Bulk SMS ever charged for sender ID registration, we would tell our customers before we did.

Renewal and re-registration from 1 July 2027

Under the proposal, a registration would last 12 months. When the new arrangements start, the sender IDs already on the Register would not be charged for the past. But their owners would have to re-apply, through a new application process, and pay the fee.

That means more than 60,000 sender IDs would need a new application at about the same time. The ACMA anticipates 89,600 sender IDs on the Register by 30 June 2027.

One renewal date for everyone?

The ACMA is also considering a common end date: every registration would expire on 30 June each year, whatever date it started. Businesses and telcos would not need to track separate dates. But it could concentrate renewal work in the weeks before 30 June, and every sender ID that is not renewed in time would leave the Register on that date. Its messages would then show as "Unverified".

If the fee goes ahead, we will add a re-registration checklist to this page before 1 July 2027.

The timeline

1. 1 July 2026 Done

   The Register starts. Messages from sender IDs that are not on it show as "Unverified".

2. 4 November 2026 Done

   The ACMA opens its consultation on cost recovery.

3. 4 December 2026, 5pm AEDT Open

   Submissions close.

4. After the close Next

   The ACMA publishes the submissions on its website, except information that it accepts as confidential.

5. Before charging starts, date not announced Next

   The ACMA consults on a Regulatory Charging Statement. Charging cannot start until the arrangements are approved.

6. From 1 July 2027 Proposed

   The ACMA proposes that the fee and the 12-month registration period start. Existing sender IDs would re-apply and pay. Charging still needs approval, which the ACMA says will likely be during the 2027-28 financial year.

The dates after 4 December 2026 are the ACMA's proposals. None of them is fixed yet.

The five questions the ACMA is asking

The consultation paper asks five questions. Here they are in plain English, with a short note of how we answered each one.

What Bulk SMS told the ACMA

Bulk SMS lodges sender IDs on the Register for its customers. We made a submission on 6 November 2026. These are its main points.

We also asked the ACMA not to make existing registrants re-apply and pay on 1 July 2027, and to consult on the proposed telco levy at the same time, so that the full cost to the industry can be seen together.

Read our full submission (PDF, 7 pages)

The ACMA publishes submissions on its website, except information that it accepts as confidential. We will link to ours there when it is published.

Charging models compared

Questions and answers