What is Premium SMS?

Premium SMS is a payment option that lets you receive content and services offered by companies other than Telstra (referred to as ‘third parties’), on your mobile phone or tablet. You agree to pay for it by sending an SMS message to a number starting with ‘19’.

Premium SMS entertainment services include:

• ringtones
• games
• music videos
• entering PSMS competitions

All of these services include a charge. Even though these charges appear on your Telstra mobile bill, we do not choose the content or cost of the service because they’re supplied by a third party (non-Telstra) supplier.

Will all content be affected?

No. The following Premium SMS services will not be affected:

• Charity donations.
• Popular mass media voting or competition services, including but not limited to Channel 7’s Cash Cow, annual Eurovision voting, I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here voting, etc.

These changes are not related to and will not impact other similar message services, such as: 

• SMS
• SMS videos and pictures
• Apple iMessage, Google Allo, Facebook Messenger, or other similar IP messaging services

What's next for you?

You don’t need to do anything.

If you've bought something from a third party (non-Telstra) supplier using your Post-Paid Telstra mobile bill, it'll show up under ‘Third Party Purchases’.

You can look up your suppliers helpline number via the list below or via http://www.19sms.com.au/. The ‘Provider’ name and 19 Number (listed under ‘Description’) is on your bill.

Please see Telstra bill example below.

If you have any concerns about any Premium SMS charges on your account, please call us on 13 22 00, or 13 20 00 if you are a business customers.

Affected services

See below the list of Premium SMS services that we’ll no longer support and their helpline number. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Contact Us

Prefer to talk to someone over the phone? We're here to answer your questions.

For more information, please call customer service on 13 22 00, or 13 20 00 if you are a business customers.

Who is actually providing me with the content under Premium SMS?

Even though the charges appear on your Post-Paid Telstra bill, or are debited from your Pre-Paid credit balance, the content has been provided by a third party. That’s why on Post-Paid bills it will be listed underneath a title that says “Third Party Purchases”.

How will charges appear on my Post-Paid bill?

Premium SMS charges appear on your Telstra Post-Paid bill. If you see additional charges on your Post-Paid bill (under Third Party/Separate Purchases), or money debited from your Pre-Paid balance, it means we paid the content provider on your behalf, then recovered the cost on your mobile bill.

Please see Telstra Post-Paid bill example below.

It’s convenient for me to use my Telstra bill. Why can’t I continue?

We’re committed to providing outstanding service for all our customers.

Because we can’t always provide comprehensive and direct support for Premium SMS services we will no longer offer this payment option via our bills. This change commences from 12 December 2018 and all 3^rd party Premium SMS subscriptions will also expire at this time.