Australia SMS Features and Restrictions

Country Summary

Sender ID Guidelines

In order to combat scam Calls and scam SMS towards Australia, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), which is the communications and media services regulator in Australia, has published the Scam Code Act. Under this Scam Code Act, telcos and service providers are obligated to identify, trace and block suspected SMS & Voice scams. Due to these new rules, registration is now required with Vonage to ensure smooth delivery of the SMS towards Australia.

Sender ID Registration*

Under the Reducing Scam Calls and Scam SMS Code, Australian Carrier and Carriage Service Provider (CSP) like Vonage must have processes in place to obtain evidence from customers that they have a legitimate reason to use their intended Sender IDs for the SMS sending towards Australian mobile users. Breaching ACMA directions to comply with the new rules will result in heavy penalties.

To comply with the ACMA rules, Vonage has now implemented a SMS Sender ID registration process for Australia to ensure Sender IDs are being used legitimately. If you are sending or plan to send Australia SMS via Vonage, we strongly recommend you to start the registration with Vonage immediately and provide the necessary information with us to avoid any service interruption.

*To initiate the Sender ID registration process, please check Global Sender ID Portal or contact your account manager or support

Below are the key notes for you to start with:

• What types of sender IDs will be accepted for registration by Vonage?
  • Alphanumeric sender IDs (3 to 11 characters consist of a-z, A-Z, or 0-9) are accepted. Generic sender ID which doesn't correlate with a brand or company name will not be accepted and subject to blocking by the operators.
  • Numeric sender IDs will be accepted as long as it is an Australia SMS enabled number subscribed from Vonage or ported to Vonage, and it has to be international format (with country code 61).

• What will happen to my existing and new traffic to Australia with sender IDs that are not registered yet?
  • Vonage customers, who have terminated SMS traffic to Australia before 22nd May 2023 and for up to the last 3 months, will see no changes to their traffic delivery. However, customers should start and complete sender ID registration of their traffic by 1st July 2023.
  • Customers who have not terminated SMS traffic to Australia via Vonage before 22nd May 2023 and for the past 3 months, or signed up to Communication API services after that date, their Australia SMS traffic will be blocked and still be charged starting from 24th May 2023. 
  • From 1st July 2023 onwards, only sender IDs that have been registered with Vonage will be allowed to send SMS towards Australia. Traffic from non-registered sender IDs are blocked by Vonage and may still be charged.
• What do I need to do in order to start the registration with Vonage?
  • Register all your numeric and alphanumeric Sender IDs
  • Submit signed Letter of Authorization form via Global Sender ID Portal , your Vonage account manager or Support. 

• Does SMS enabled Australian Long Virtual Numbers (LVN) subscribed from or ported to Vonage require registration as well?
  • For existing LVN numbers, customers will also need to follow the same registration process before 1st July 2023. Outbound SMS sending from non-registered Australian LVNs is blocked after the deadline.
  • For new Australian LVN subscriptions, please note that the self-service buying of numbers is currently unavailable for Australia on Vonage's Customer Dashboard. However, customer can still request for new LVNs from Customer Dashboard by filling and submit the required information. The request will be reviewed. Once the new LVN has been reserved for customer, they will be asked to submit the Letter of Authorization (LOA). After receiving the LOA, the LVN will be subscribed to customer. If the LVN will be used for voice only, it is considered complete once the LVN has been subscribed. If the LVN will be used for SMS, the registration process will be started to whitelist their LVN.
• Do I need to do the registration if I'm using Verify Product and SMS is one of the channels included in my Verify API request?
  • Yes, customers who will choose SMS as one of the channels in the Verify API requests have to register as well. 

Use-Case & Content Guidelines

Additional Information

P2P traffic is prohibited.

No political, religious, unsolicited promotion, or gambling content.

There are no additional content restrictions beyond those in our Acceptable Use Policy.