PhonepayPlus Chief Executive, Paul Whiteing, discusses measures the regulator is introducing today to combat these problems...

PhonepayPlus published research in December 2008 that showed use of mobile phones to access content and services like ringtones, wallpapers, contact information and competitions is undergoing a rise in popularity, especially among 11-17 year olds.

More than one in ten people in this age group said they will use a phone-paid service in the future, and 47 per cent have done so in the last six months. It’s a trend that is set to continue this year.

Unfortunately, the complaints we are receiving about these services are also on the rise; and it’s an increase too steep for us to ignore.

Between FY 2006/7 and 2007/8 contact to us from worried consumers about mobile phone-paid services rose by 108 per cent and, in some months, accounted for 94 per cent of all complaints we logged.

The two measures we are introducing that will have most impact on mobile phone-paid service providers are:

Prior permission: any providers charging over £4.50 in any given week or applying pay-per-page charges must first apply for permission from PhonepayPlus.

Active confirmation: if a consumer joins a subscription service, they must get a free text message informing them of the cost and conditions of the service. They can’t be charged until they have confirmed the subscription by reply.

These measures address the most problematic areas we identified during our review of the mobile phone-paid services market. They are designed to weed out a small minority of unscrupulous providers who look to mislead consumers and undermine their trust in the market as a whole.

Ultimately, they ensure consumers don’t have to work too hard to understand the full price of any service, can opt out of any they weren’t expecting or no longer want to receive and, fundamentally, can use legitimate services with confidence.

For more information on the PhonepayPlus research, click here.