Austria now blocks business SMS from unregistered sender names

Austria now blocks business SMS from unregistered sender names

16 October 2026: Austria's telecoms regulator RTR says text messages carrying an alphanumeric sender name, such as a bank's or a delivery firm's name in place of a phone number, are now delivered only if that name is on its public register. Messages from names that are not listed are not delivered, and more than 8,500 valid names had been registered by 16 October.

Not yet independently verified. RTR states that sending alphanumeric SMS directly from abroad will be prohibited, but neither of its pages gives a date for that ban. We will add it when RTR publishes one. We will update this when it can be confirmed, and remove this note.

The rules behind the register

The obligation comes from the tenth amendment of the KEM-V, Austria's communications parameters, fees and value-added services ordinance. RTR's rules page sets out the timetable: the register opened for entries on 1 July 2026, and since 1 October 2026 only registered names may be delivered to Austrian users. Service providers must download the register at least once a day, check that a sender name is genuine before delivery, and delete messages with names that are not listed. Where a name is listed but there is doubt about who sent the message, the provider may change the sender to "Unbekannt" (unknown) and deliver it. Providers are liable for breaches.

A name has to point clearly to the business that holds it: in RTR's example, only the bank called "Hausbank" may send as "Hausbank". Generic names that identify no one, such as "Reservierung" or "Zahnarzt", are refused. The justification for each name must be written in German, and every field in the register is published.

Registration goes through operators

Businesses do not register directly. Their mobile SMS service provider or an Austrian mobile operator enters the name on their behalf, with the holder's full company name and address rather than the aggregator's. RTR added in September that abbreviated company names are not accepted, and that owning a similar domain alone is not a sufficient reason for a name. It checked more than 14,000 entries by hand that month and returned some to providers because of poor data quality.

"Mit dieser Regulierungsmaßnahme haben wir dem Betrug mittels Phishing-SMS nunmehr für lange Zeit einen Riegel vorgeschoben," said Klaus M. Steinmaurer, RTR's managing director for telecommunications and post, meaning the measure has shut out phishing SMS fraud for a long time. RTR has recorded more than 9,000 complaints about fraudulent SMS this year.

What senders outside Austria face

RTR also says that sending alphanumeric SMS directly from abroad to Austrian customers will be prohibited. A company that sends one-time passwords, appointment reminders or delivery notices to Austrian numbers through an international route should ask its provider which Austrian operator registers and delivers its sender names, and check the public register for its own entry. Our SMS marketing software category lists 16 products.

Related on TrustList:

• WhatsApp Business Platform charges for service messages from 1 October, with 1,000 free a month per number

Sources

• RTR press release: SMS-Absenderkennungen (in German), 16 October 2026
• RTR: SMS-Regulierung, rules and register for alphanumeric sender IDs (in German), 16 October 2026