The Day You Find Out
It is never a good day for it, and there is a reason for that: the question only ever gets asked when the answer has become expensive.
Nobody checks who holds the rights to their 1300 number on a quiet Tuesday. They check during a migration, which is precisely the moment at which the answer has consequences and the goodwill required to fix it has just run out.
Why this article exists, and why it should be read early
The sequence is consistent. A business decides to move. Handsets, porting of the ordinary lines and the internet all proceed without incident. Then the inbound number comes up and someone reads a clause nobody has looked at since signing. The number was supplied with the service. It is licensed for the term. On termination it reverts.
At that point the business is looking at vehicle wraps, signage, a decade of print, directory listings, a Google Business Profile, an email signature template and several thousand customers with a number saved in their phone. The provider has not necessarily done anything wrong. The business simply never asked a question that had a knowable answer.
Why It Happens Without Anyone Lying
The structure underneath is real, and understanding it stops the whole thing feeling like a conspiracy.
All Australian telephone numbers — landline, mobile, and 13, 1300 and 1800 inbound numbers — are a national resource managed by the ACMA on behalf of the Commonwealth of Australia. They are not property. No business holds title to one and neither does any telco. What exists is a right of use, and someone holds it.
Which means “own your number” is shorthand
It means have the rights of use registered in your business's name. That is not an opinion or a matter of interpretation — it is a line in a register, and it can be checked. Everything that follows in this article is about finding that line and, if necessary, changing whose name is on it.
Numbers reach businesses by two routes, and the difference between them is where all the trouble lives.
| Allocated by your provider | Bought as a smartnumber | |
|---|---|---|
| How it arrived | Your telco issued a number from a block allocated to them, usually as part of signing up | You selected and purchased a specific number through the ACMA numbering system |
| What it looks like | Whatever was next in the pool. Forgettable | A pattern such as 1300 222 222, or a phraseword spelling something on the keypad |
| What it cost up front | Frequently nothing, or folded into the plan | A one-off allocation charge from $250 to $20,000, plus a registration charge |
| Who holds the rights | Depends entirely on the arrangement. This is where ambiguity lives | Whoever is registered in the numbering system — which should be your legal entity |
| Risk profile | Fine for a routing number. Dangerous for a number you advertise | Strong, provided the registration is genuinely in your name and you hold the PIN |
The Register That Settles It
The ACMA operates a numbering system, administered on its behalf by ZOAK Pty Ltd, and it records rights of use. Four things about it matter to a business.
The register is the answer
Whoever is recorded holds the rights. Not whoever advertises the number, not whoever pays the monthly bill, not whoever believes it is theirs. If it is ever disputed, this is where it resolves.
There is a PIN
Smartnumber holders receive a rights of use PIN used to manage and transfer the number within the numbering system. If you believe you hold the rights and have never seen a PIN, that is worth a phone call today.
Rights can be traded or licensed
Holders may trade smartnumbers or licence another party to run a service on the number. Useful flexibility — and also the exact mechanism by which a number ends up registered to someone other than the business using it.
Rights lapse when disconnected
You hold rights while the number is connected to a service. Once disconnected, rights run for three years from the last date of service, then the number returns to the pool for anyone to buy.
Two situations where the three-year rule bites
Numbers acquired in a business sale. If a smartnumber was traded to you, check whether it is active and when the rights expire, because you may have inherited something closer to lapsing than anyone told you. Numbers you are no longer using — from a retired brand, a closed division, an old campaign. A lapsed number is not recoverable by appeal. It returns to the pool and anyone may buy it, which in a tight local market can include a competitor delighted to take your legacy calls.
The Numbers Behind the Number
Every figure here is published, and together they reframe how a monthly invoice reads.
Smartnumber allocation charges are set by the Telecommunications (Numbering Charges) (Allocation Charge) Determination 2025, priced according to how memorable the number is:
| Classification | Basis of charge | 13 number | 1300 number | 1800 number |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platinum | Numeric pattern | $16,000 | $20,000 | $20,000 |
| Diamond | Word value | $8,000 | $8,000 | $8,000 |
| Gold | Numeric pattern | $6,000 | $4,500 | $4,500 |
| Opal | Word value | $2,400 | $1,500 | $1,500 |
| Silver | Numeric pattern | $1,200 | $750 | $750 |
| Standard | Low or no identified pattern or word value | $400 | $250 | $250 |
Those are one-off charges, paid alongside a one-off registration charge, with no refunds — so the number needs to be right before you buy it. Then there is the recurring government charge, which is the figure most people find surprising.
$250
One-off, standard 1300
$0.57
Annual charge, 10-digit number, 2026
3 yrs
Rights retained after disconnection
$0
Refunds available on a smartnumber
The ACMA charges telcos an Annual Numbering Charge on the numbers they hold in the numbering system. For 2026 the fee on a ten-digit number is $0.5697110391 — roughly fifty-seven cents a year. The regulator's own rules add that a telco may pass the fee on to customers, but the fee must match the fee the ACMA sets for that type of number.
What that does and does not mean
A monthly charge for an inbound number is entirely legitimate. Inbound routing, call delivery, configuration, reporting and support all cost real money and someone has to provide them. What such a charge is not is a government fee, so if a line on your bill is described as a regulatory or ACMA charge and exceeds about fifty-seven cents a year, the label is wrong even where the amount is fair. Ask what it covers. The answer, or the absence of one, tells you a lot.
What the Rules Actually Guarantee
Before this reads as bleaker than it is: the protections are real, they are specific, and hardly any business owner knows they exist.
Chapter 10 of the Telecommunications Numbering Plan 2025 sets out the porting rules, and the Inbound Number Portability Code deals specifically with freephone 1800 numbers and local rate 13 and 1300 numbers. The obligations on the provider you are leaving are not ambiguous.
- They must port the number. Where another telco asks, at your request, to port out a local, mobile, freephone or local rate number, the losing telco must port it.
- Money owed is not grounds to refuse. They cannot refuse or delay porting even if you owe them money. A debt is recoverable as a debt; it is not a lever over your number. This is the most useful sentence in the whole framework.
- Do not cancel first. Only an active service can be ported, and the gaining telco is obliged to tell you so. Cancelling before the port completes is the most common self-inflicted injury in the entire process.
- You must be told about costs. The gaining telco needs your permission, must warn you about charges such as early termination fees, and must give you the contract terms. Exit costs are legitimate; withholding a number is a different matter.
These have been enforced
It has been reported that in 2021 Telstra paid a $1.5 million penalty to the ACMA over breaches of number porting requirements involving refusal to port local numbers for customers changing providers. A flat refusal to release your number is the beginning of a complaint, not the end of a discussion. The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman is free to use, and the ACMA writes the rules.
And the honest limit
Porting rules govern moving a service between providers and they are strong. The rights of use register governs who controls the number itself over the long term, and that is a separate layer. If your contract characterises the number as licensed to you for the term, do not assume the porting rules alone dispose of the question. Establish who holds the rights, in writing, rather than reasoning about what ought to be true.
Six Signs You Are Renting
None of these is conclusive on its own. Three or more together and you should stop reading and start checking.
| Sign | Why it points that way |
|---|---|
| 1. The number was free | A standard 1300 carries a $250 allocation charge. If nobody charged you anything, somebody else probably paid it — and registered it in their name |
| 2. There is a monthly “number fee” | Not conclusive, since routing genuinely costs money. But a recurring fee on an asset you supposedly own is worth understanding precisely |
| 3. Nobody can produce a rights of use PIN | Holders get one. If nobody in your business has ever seen it and your provider will not supply it, ask why |
| 4. The contract uses the word licence or lease | Allocated, supplied, licensed and leased are not synonyms. Licensed for the term is a description of renting |
| 5. There is a release or transfer fee | A fee to take your own number with you is a strong indication that it is not being treated as yours |
| 6. The provider chose the number, not you | If you were handed a number rather than selecting one, it came from their block. That does not settle it, but it shifts the odds |
The Twenty-Minute Check
Do it now, while the relationship is good and nothing is at stake. It is a completely different conversation when there is no migration in progress.
- Open the original contract and search it for the number, plus the words licence, lease, supplied and rights of use. Anything describing the number as licensed or supplied for the term is effectively your answer already.
- Look for a purchase invoice for the number itself — an allocation or registration charge separate from monthly service fees. Paying $250 or more once, for the number, suggests you bought it. Paying nothing suggests asking more questions.
- Search for a rights of use PIN in your records and your email archive. Its presence is a strong indicator that the registration is in your name.
- Email your provider one sentence: who is the registered rights of use holder for this number in the ACMA numbering system? Ask in writing so the answer exists in writing.
- Verify independently. The ACMA publishes contact details for numbering system support on 1300 463 580 or by email. This is the authoritative step, and it is the one nobody takes.
- Write it down and file it — the holder, the PIN, where the paperwork lives. So that whoever has your job in eight years does not repeat this exercise from nothing.
Five Ways Out
If the answer comes back that your provider holds the rights, you are not stuck. Every one of these is easier while you are still a customer in good standing.
| Path | How it works | When to reach for it |
|---|---|---|
| Just ask | Holders may trade smartnumbers. The receiving party must ensure the register is updated, and the ACMA provides a trade of rights of use form for both parties | Always the first move, and often successful when the relationship is fine and nobody is under pressure |
| Make it a renewal condition | Transfer of the rights becomes a term of signing the next agreement | Your strongest moment of leverage. It costs them very little and is worth a great deal to you |
| Buy your own and run both | Acquire a smartnumber in your name, point it at the same destination, and migrate marketing to it over twelve months while the old number still rings | When transfer is refused. Slower, entirely within your control, and far less disruptive than a hard cutover |
| Port the service, then resolve the register | The porting rules require the losing telco to port and forbid refusal for money owed. Move the service, then deal with the register question | When you need to leave regardless. Get advice on the register rather than assuming it follows |
| Escalate | The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman is free. The ACMA sets the porting rules and has enforced them with penalties | If a valid port request is refused outright. Do not treat a flat no as the final answer |
Doing It Properly From Scratch
If you are getting an inbound number for the first time, four decisions in this order leave you in the best possible position.
Decide how much it matters
Is this going on a vehicle, a building or a billboard? If yes, buy it properly. If it is a routing convenience nobody will ever memorise, take one from a provider's block and stop thinking about it.
Pick the classification honestly
Standard is $250 once. Platinum is $20,000. A memorable number genuinely earns its cost in some businesses and returns nothing in others. Work out which one you are before you fall in love with a pattern.
Register the legal entity
The company or the trustee — not a director personally, not your bookkeeper, and not your phone provider. Get the name exactly right, because this is the record that decides everything afterwards.
Keep the PIN and paperwork
Rights of use PIN, allocation records, registration confirmation. Filed somewhere the business will still find them once the person who set it all up has moved on.
Then connect it wherever you like
That order is the entire point. Once the rights sit with your business, your phone provider becomes a service decision rather than a hostage situation. You can compare, negotiate and move on the merits, because the number painted on the van travels with you. We are content to be chosen on that basis, and any provider worth using should be.
The Fair Version of the Other Side
It would be easy and effective to end by implying that every provider offering a leased number is running a scam. That is not true, and an article that said so would deserve the scepticism it earned.
| Leasing is reasonable when… | Leasing is a problem when… |
|---|---|
| The number is plumbing — a routing target that never appears in marketing | It is on the vehicles, the signage, the invoices and a decade of print |
| You are trialling a campaign or a service line you may drop within a year | Customers dial it from memory, which means it has quietly become part of your brand |
| You wanted a premium pattern you could not justify buying outright | You are paying monthly, indefinitely, for a standard number that costs $250 once |
| You understood the arrangement and priced it in | Nobody mentioned it, and you have assumed for years that it was yours |
The real complaint, precisely stated
It is not that leasing exists. It is disclosure. A business that knowingly rents a number and prices that risk into its marketing decisions has made a legitimate commercial choice. A business that spends nine years and considerable money building recognition of a number it was never told it did not control has been let down, whether or not anything untrue was ever said. Ask the question. Get the answer in writing. Then decide.
The short version
Nobody owns a phone number; somebody holds the rights of use, and it should be you if the number is painted on a vehicle. A standard 1300 costs $250 once, the government's annual charge is about 57 cents, and a losing telco must port your number even if you owe them money. Renting is a real product that becomes a problem only when nobody discloses it. Twenty minutes now saves a fortnight later — and the best time to ask for a transfer is while everyone is still getting on well.
Related: how to get a 1300 or 1800 number for the full setup guide, what goes wrong when switching providers for the migration this sits inside, and new business phone decisions that stick for getting it right at the start.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I own my 1300 number or does my provider?
Neither of you owns it, strictly speaking, and understanding that stops the whole thing feeling like a trick. All Australian telephone numbers including 13, 1300 and 1800 numbers are a national resource managed by the ACMA on behalf of the Commonwealth of Australia, so no business holds title to a number and no telco does either. What exists is a right of use, held by somebody and recorded in the ACMA numbering system. Owning your number is therefore shorthand for having the rights of use registered in your business's name, which is a line in a register rather than a matter of interpretation, and it can be checked. Numbers reach businesses by two routes and the difference is where all the trouble sits. A number may have been allocated to you from a block held by your telco, usually as part of signing up for a service, in which case the position depends entirely on the contract wording. Or it may have been bought as a smartnumber through the ACMA numbering system, in which case the registered holder should be your legal entity. Most owners cannot say which applies to them, and the check takes about twenty minutes.
How much does a 1300 number cost to buy outright in Australia?
The published allocation charges are set by the Telecommunications (Numbering Charges) (Allocation Charge) Determination 2025 and priced by how memorable the number is. For a 1300 number, Standard is $250, Silver is $750, Opal is $1,500, Gold is $4,500, Diamond is $8,000 and Platinum is $20,000. For a 13 number the same classifications are $400, $1,200, $2,400, $6,000, $8,000 and $16,000, and 1800 numbers match the 1300 figures. Numeric pattern numbers are graded Platinum, Gold and Silver, while word-value numbers such as phrasewords are graded Diamond, Opal and Standard. These are one-off allocation charges paid alongside a one-off registration charge, and there are no refunds, so the number needs to be right before you commit. The ongoing government cost is the figure that surprises people: the ACMA levies an Annual Numbering Charge on telcos for numbers held in the numbering system, and for 2026 the fee on a ten-digit number is $0.5697110391, or about fifty-seven cents a year. A telco may pass that fee on but it must match the fee the ACMA sets for that type of number, so any larger recurring charge is a commercial fee rather than a government one.
Can my provider stop me taking my 1300 number to a new provider?
Under the porting rules they cannot refuse a valid request, and those rules are stronger than most business owners realise. Chapter 10 of the Telecommunications Numbering Plan 2025 sets out the porting framework and the Inbound Number Portability Code covers freephone 1800 numbers and local rate 13 and 1300 numbers specifically. Where another telco asks, at your request, to port out a local, mobile, freephone or local rate number, the losing telco must port the number, and cannot refuse or delay porting it even if you owe them money — a debt is recoverable as a debt and is not a lever over your number. The gaining telco has obligations too: it needs your permission, must tell you not to disconnect your existing service because only an active service can be ported, must warn you about costs such as early termination fees, and must provide contract terms. These rules have been enforced, with reports that Telstra paid a $1.5 million penalty to the ACMA in 2021 over breaches involving refusal to port local numbers. One honest limit applies: porting governs moving a service, while the rights of use register governs long-term control of the number, and those are separate layers.
How do I check who holds the rights of use for my number?
Six steps, about twenty minutes, and it is far better done on a quiet day than mid-migration. Open the original contract and search it for the number plus the words licence, lease, supplied and rights of use, since anything describing the number as licensed or supplied for the term is effectively the answer. Look for a purchase invoice for the number itself, meaning an allocation or registration charge separate from monthly service fees — paying $250 or more once for the number suggests you acquired it, and paying nothing suggests asking more questions. Search your records and email archive for a rights of use PIN, which smartnumber holders receive and use to manage or transfer the number in the numbering system; its presence strongly indicates the registration is in your name. Email your provider one sentence asking who is the registered rights of use holder in the ACMA numbering system, in writing so the answer exists in writing. Then verify independently: the ACMA publishes contact details for numbering system support on 1300 463 580 or by email, and this is the authoritative step almost nobody takes. Finally write the answer down and file it.
What are the signs that I am renting rather than owning my number?
Six, none conclusive alone, but three or more together mean it is time to check properly. First, the number was free — a standard 1300 carries a $250 allocation charge, so if nobody charged you anything then somebody else probably paid it and registered it in their name. Second, there is a monthly number fee, which is not conclusive because inbound routing genuinely costs money, but a recurring charge against an asset you supposedly own is worth understanding precisely. Third, nobody in your business can produce a rights of use PIN, which holders receive, and your provider will not supply one. Fourth, the contract uses the words licence or lease, since allocated, supplied, licensed and leased are not synonyms and licensed for the term is a description of renting. Fifth, there is a release or transfer fee, because charging you to take your own number with you strongly suggests it is not being treated as yours. Sixth, the provider chose the number rather than you, which means it came out of their block — that does not settle the question, but it shifts the odds considerably. Any three of those together justify the twenty-minute check.
What can I do if my provider holds the rights to a number I advertise?
Five paths, all easier while you are still a customer in good standing rather than during an exit. Start by simply asking for a transfer: holders may trade smartnumbers, the receiving party must ensure the register is updated, and the ACMA provides a trade of rights of use form for both parties to complete. This succeeds more often than people expect when nobody is under pressure. If it is not agreed immediately, make transfer of the rights a condition of signing your next agreement, since renewal is your strongest moment of leverage and the transfer costs the provider very little while being worth a great deal to you. If transfer is refused, buy your own smartnumber in your business's name, point it at the same destination, and migrate your marketing across over twelve months while the old number still rings — slower than a cutover, entirely within your control, and much less disruptive. If you need to leave regardless, use the porting rules to move the service and then resolve the register question separately with proper advice. And if a valid port request is refused outright, escalate: the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman is free and the ACMA has enforced these rules with penalties.
What happens to my 1300 number if the service is disconnected?
You hold rights to use a smartnumber for as long as it is connected to a phone service. Once it is not connected, rights of use continue for three years from the last date of service, after which the number becomes available for someone else to buy through the ACMA numbering system. Two situations make that rule expensive. The first is a number acquired through a business sale or restructure: the ACMA is explicit that where a smartnumber has been traded to you, you should check whether it is active and when it will expire, because you may have inherited something considerably closer to lapsing than the vendor mentioned. The second is a number you have stopped using — from a retired brand, a closed division or a campaign that ended — which quietly runs down its three years while nobody is watching. A lapsed number cannot be recovered by appeal or goodwill; it returns to the pool and anyone may buy it, and in a competitive local market that could easily be a competitor who is very happy to receive calls from your old signage and directory listings. If you hold inbound numbers you are not currently using, check their status and expiry dates now.
