Regulations have been brought into effect by the operators in order to crack down on smishing attempts. This will be enacted in 2 phases, phase 1 on 12th September 2023. Phase 2 revised date of 31st October 2023. Please be aware this is a fluid situation, we will update customers as and when new information becomes available.
Please note UK routes do not include networks supplying the islands of Jersey or Guernsey. Additionally, numbers identified as Premium rate will be dropped (there are typically higher levels of Premium numbers in these markets than normal).
Fully dynamic SID is currently accepted, however, please be aware certain SID registration* (described below) will become mandatory in the near future. Additionally, SIDs contained in the MEF’s SMS SenderID Protection Registry require validation before being permitted for use.
Phase 1 stipulates changes to Sender IDs from 12th September 2023:
Customers sending traffic to the UK with International numeric senders i.e anything other than "+44xxx" will be blocked. Operators may grant exceptions for some international numeric senders upon validation if it is an absolute requirement, please register the numeric SID with us to make this request.
Customers sending traffic to the UK with short code numeric senders - 5 digits starting with 6/7/8 will be permitted. All other short codes are not permitted.
Customers sending traffic with alpha senders with special characters i.e. senders including @, $, #, etc will be blocked. Valid special characters for an alpha/alphanumeric sender (max length of 11 digits): A to Z (Uppercase), a to z (Lowercase), 0-9 (numeric), special characters ' ' (space), '.' (full stop), '&' (ampersand), '_' (underscore), '-' (Dash/hyphen).
Customers must send using their brand name, generic sender IDs such as “SMS”, “INFO” or “Alert” are not permitted.
Phase 2 stipulates changes to alpha Sender IDs and content from 31st October 2023:
Specific protected brands will be blocked, these brands must be whitelisted* with us alongside an LOA to ensure only valid traffic passes. Please see the list of protected brands here, or below.
Variations of generic SIDs will be blocked, but not SIDs using a generic SID as a wildcard. For example, for the generic SID 'Bank' the senders 'BANK', 'bank', 'b4nk', 'B4nk' will be filtered as variations. However, the SID 'BloodBank' will still be permitted due to its use as a wildcard. Please alter any non-compliant SID to represent the brand of the traffic, to avoid any disruption of service by October 31st.
Short Code in the legitimate format (please check phase 1 update for the details) OR any approved exception Short Code sender ID with restricted digits.
Generic Sender ID
Generic sender IDs such as INFO, SMS, NOTICE etc are prohibited.
** Supported Sender ID Characters **
A to Z (Uppercase) . (Period/Full Stop) A to Z (Lower case) (Dash) - 0 to 9 (Numeric) _ (Underscore) (Space) Ampersand &
*** Sender IDs containing these generic terms: Alert, Verify & Infowill NOT be blocked on the 3rd July but a later stage, exact date still to be confirmed.
Protected brand list
Last updated 4th of July 2024
Finance, Banking and Fintech
Government and Healthcare
Logistics and Parcel Delivery
Mobile Network Operators/ Misc
American Express
Child Support Agency (CSA)
ArrowXL
Amazon (Not AWS)
Atom Bank
Crown Commercial Service (CCS)
CityDprint
Apple
Bank of Ireland (BOI)
Department for Business Energy
DHL
Bolt
Barclays
Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA)
