ACMA Clients API

openapi: 3.2.0
info:
  title: ACMA Spectrum Licensing Clients API
  version: '1.0'
  summary: Public, anonymous read access to the Australian Communications and Media Authority's Register of Radiocommunications Licences.
  description: 'The ACMA Spectrum Licensing API is an application programming interface which allows members of the public to query the ACMA''s spectrum licensing data. This data can be queried programmatically so that it can be used by external application developers to produce mobile or web applications.


    The service exposes both a REST endpoint (browser-consumable, XML or JSON per operation suffix) and a SOAP endpoint over the same operations. Every operation is a read; there are no writes, no authentication, no API key and no registration. A single query returns at most 2,000 records, deliberately, to discourage bulk extraction through the API - the full dataset is published as a daily zip download instead.


    PROVENANCE: this OpenAPI is an API Evangelist reconstruction of an API that ACMA documents but does not describe in OpenAPI. Paths, parameters, enumerated values and operation semantics are taken verbatim from ACMA''s published guide ''Spectrum Licensing API'' v1.0 (17/06/2016) and from the live WSDL at OuterService.svc?wsdl; response schemas are derived from live responses captured on 2026-07-25. Every operation carries an x-evidence block naming the documentation source and the live URL that was probed.'
  contact:
    name: ACMA
    email: info@acma.gov.au
    url: https://www.acma.gov.au/contact-us
  license:
    name: Licence to use the Register of Radiocommunications Licences
    url: https://www.acma.gov.au/radiocomms-licence-data#terms-and-conditions
  termsOfService: https://www.acma.gov.au/radiocomms-licence-data#terms-and-conditions
  x-source: https://www.acma.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-11/Spectrum%20licensing%20API.docx
  x-wsdl: https://api.acma.gov.au/SpectrumLicensingAPIOuterService/OuterService.svc?wsdl
  x-generated-by: API Evangelist enrichment pipeline
  x-generated-on: '2026-07-25'
servers:
- url: https://api.acma.gov.au/SpectrumLicensingAPIOuterService/OuterService.svc
  description: Production REST endpoint (HTTPS). The guide publishes the same path over HTTP; HTTPS is live and verified.
security: []
tags:
- name: Clients
  description: Licensees - the people and organisations that hold licences.
paths:
  /ClientSearchXML/{searchText}:
    get:
      operationId: clientSearchXML
      summary: Search licensees / clients (XML)
      description: 'Returns an XElement containing all clients for the specified search terms.


        A single query returns at most 2,000 records; page with the offset parameter to retrieve more. For the whole dataset, ACMA publishes a same-day full RRL extract as a zip download rather than serving it through this API.'
      tags:
      - Clients
      parameters:
      - name: searchText
        in: path
        required: true
        description: The text to search for.
        schema:
          type: string
      - name: searchField
        in: query
        required: false
        description: The field to search; any detail can be used to search all fields.
        schema:
          type: string
          enum:
          - Client No.
          - Client Surname
          - Licencee Name
          - Org Name
          - Trading Name
          - ACN
          - ABN
          - Postcode
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/searchOption'
      - name: sortBy
        in: query
        required: false
        description: The field to sort the results by.
        schema:
          type: string
          enum:
          - client_no
          - name
          - CAN
          - ABN
          - rownum
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/offset'
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/resultsLimit'
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Matching records. The service returns HTTP 200 with an empty result array when nothing matches.
          content:
            application/xml:
              schema:
                type: string
                description: An XElement document. The element structure mirrors the JSON envelope of the matching *JSON operation; the XML Schema for the SOAP projection of this service is published at https://api.acma.gov.au/SpectrumLicensingAPIOuterService/OuterService.svc?xsd=xsd0 and harvested to wsdl/acma-spectrum-licensing-xsd0.xsd.
        '400':
          description: Malformed request - an unparseable URI template, or a parameter value the WCF service cannot bind (for example a non-numeric offset).
          content:
            text/html:
              schema:
                type: string
        '404':
          description: Unknown web method - the leading path segment does not match a published operation name.
          content:
            text/html:
              schema:
                type: string
        '500':
          description: Service fault. The WCF endpoint returns an HTML fault page rather than a structured error body; there is no RFC 9457 problem+json envelope.
          content:
            text/html:
              schema:
                type: string
      x-evidence:
        documented_in: https://www.acma.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-11/Spectrum%20licensing%20API.docx
        verified_live: https://api.acma.gov.au/SpectrumLicensingAPIOuterService/OuterService.svc/ClientSearchXML/Smith?resultsLimit=1
        verified_on: '2026-07-25'
        verified_status: 200
  /ClientSearchJSON/{searchText}:
    get:
      operationId: clientSearchJSON
      summary: Search licensees / clients (JSON)
      description: 'Returns a JSON string containing all clients for the specified search terms.


        A single query returns at most 2,000 records; page with the offset parameter to retrieve more. For the whole dataset, ACMA publishes a same-day full RRL extract as a zip download rather than serving it through this API.'
      tags:
      - Clients
      parameters:
      - name: searchText
        in: path
        required: true
        description: The text to search for.
        schema:
          type: string
      - name: searchField
        in: query
        required: false
        description: The field to search; any detail can be used to search all fields.
        schema:
          type: string
          enum:
          - Client No.
          - Client Surname
          - Licencee Name
          - Org Name
          - Trading Name
          - ACN
          - ABN
          - Postcode
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/searchOption'
      - name: sortBy
        in: query
        required: false
        description: The field to sort the results by.
        schema:
          type: string
          enum:
          - client_no
          - name
          - CAN
          - ABN
          - rownum
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/offset'
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/resultsLimit'
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/isJSONP'
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/jsonpCallback'
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Matching records. The service returns HTTP 200 with an empty result array when nothing matches.
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/ClientSearchResponse'
              examples:
                live:
                  summary: Live response captured 2026-07-25 from https://api.acma.gov.au/SpectrumLicensingAPIOuterService/OuterService.svc/ClientSearchJSON/Smith?resultsLimit=1
                  value:
                    Client:
                    - TOTAL_RESULT: 46.0
                      RESULTS_INDEX: 1.0
                      CLIENT_NO: 1421485.0
                      DISPLAY_NAME: ERNEST SMITH CONTRACTORS PROPRIETARY LIMITED
                      ACN: 004433649
                      ABN: '79004433649'
                      POSTAL_LINE1: 370-418 Old Dandenong Rd
                      POSTAL_LINE2: null
                      POSTAL_LINE3: null
                      POSTAL_CITY: DINGLEY
                      POSTAL_STATEORPROVINCE: VIC
                      POSTAL_POSTALCODE: '3172'
                      CLIENT_TYPE_NAME: Company
        '400':
          description: Malformed request - an unparseable URI template, or a parameter value the WCF service cannot bind (for example a non-numeric offset).
          content:
            text/html:
              schema:
                type: string
        '404':
          description: Unknown web method - the leading path segment does not match a published operation name.
          content:
            text/html:
              schema:
                type: string
        '500':
          description: Service fault. The WCF endpoint returns an HTML fault page rather than a structured error body; there is no RFC 9457 problem+json envelope.
          content:
            text/html:
              schema:
                type: string
      x-evidence:
        documented_in: https://www.acma.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-11/Spectrum%20licensing%20API.docx
        verified_live: https://api.acma.gov.au/SpectrumLicensingAPIOuterService/OuterService.svc/ClientSearchJSON/Smith?resultsLimit=1
        verified_on: '2026-07-25'
        verified_status: 200
components:
  parameters:
    searchOption:
      name: searchOption
      in: query
      required: false
      description: 'How searchText is matched: matches, begins with, or sounds like.'
      schema:
        type: string
        enum:
        - matches
        - begins with
        - sounds like
    isJSONP:
      name: isJSONP
      in: query
      required: false
      description: true or false, depending on whether JSONP is used.
      schema:
        type: boolean
    resultsLimit:
      name: resultsLimit
      in: query
      required: false
      description: The number of records to return after the offset. The service caps any single query at 2,000 records.
      schema:
        type: integer
        minimum: 1
        maximum: 2000
    jsonpCallback:
      name: jsonpCallback
      in: query
      required: false
      description: The callback function name to wrap the response in for JSONP.
      schema:
        type: string
    offset:
      name: offset
      in: query
      required: false
      description: The number of records to skip over. Used with resultsLimit to page beyond the 2,000-record cap (0, 2000, 4000, ...).
      schema:
        type: integer
        minimum: 0
  schemas:
    ClientSearchResponse:
      type: object
      title: ClientSearchResponse
      description: Client search results.
      properties:
        Client:
          type: array
          items:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/Client'
    Client:
      type: object
      title: Client
      description: 'A licensee (client) record: the person or organisation that holds radiocommunications licences.'
      properties:
        TOTAL_RESULT:
          type:
          - number
          - 'null'
        RESULTS_INDEX:
          type:
          - number
          - 'null'
        CLIENT_NO:
          type:
          - number
          - 'null'
        DISPLAY_NAME:
          type:
          - string
          - 'null'
        ACN:
          type:
          - string
          - 'null'
        ABN:
          type:
          - string
          - 'null'
        POSTAL_LINE1:
          type:
          - string
          - 'null'
        POSTAL_LINE2:
          type:
          - string
          - 'null'
        POSTAL_LINE3:
          type:
          - string
          - 'null'
        POSTAL_CITY:
          type:
          - string
          - 'null'
        POSTAL_STATEORPROVINCE:
          type:
          - string
          - 'null'
        POSTAL_POSTALCODE:
          type:
          - string
          - 'null'
        CLIENT_TYPE_NAME:
          type:
          - string
          - 'null'
externalDocs:
  description: ACMA Spectrum Licensing API guide (DOCX, v1.0, 17/06/2016)
  url: https://www.acma.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-11/Spectrum%20licensing%20API.docx