News
UK regulator to clamp down on mobile content services
Stuart O'Brien May 1 2008, 1:28pm
Comments (2)
Forty per cent increase in 1Q08 complaints forces PhonepayPlus to take action.
PhoneplayPlus, the UK premium rate telephony regulator formerly known as ICSTIS, says complaints about mobile content service are on the rise again.
As a result it has announced a review of mobile premium services in the UK, which it says are worth around £350 million annually, including digital content such as music ringtones, games and other downloads.
Specifically, PhoneplayPlus received more than 4,500 complaints related to mobile in 1Q08. This equates to 80 per cent of all complaints received and represents a 40 per cent increase over a similar period last year.
At the end of March it had already adjudicated on 15 mobile services, resulting in fines of £223,500 - there were 33 in the whole of 2007.
The review, which PhonepayPlus aims to publish in July, will provide an overview of mobile phone-paid services, and identify issues affecting UK consumers, namely unsolicited promotions, especially text messages; Price transparency and the use of words that indicate content is 'free'; and subscription services (e.g.
ringtones) and the 'STOP' command.
The news makes for depressing reading considering the great strides the industry made against the rip-off ringtone subscriptions that swamped the UK market in 2004.
In August of that year the industry-wide STOP command was introduced, which was supposed to have signaled the end of such complaints (even though it slashed the value of the market by 40 per cent as a result).
More recently, initiatives such as PayforIt have been introduced to make the process of buying mobile content even more transparent. But it appears the market still has problems.
George Kidd, chief executive at PhonepayPlus, said: "There are clear rules when it comes to the promotion, content and delivery of mobile phone paid services. We expect these rules to be followed and any failings of compliance will be punished. PhonepayPlus will work with all interested parties to understand the issues, examine the evidence and, if necessary, propose solutions."
Comments
“Oh dear”
Posted by: JasonS - May 2, 9:25am
To be honest, this is quite depressing. It's 2008 for crying out loud. We're supposed to be a mature (ing) market.
“Re: Oh dear”
Posted by: christopherJ - May 2, 4:16pm
...a maturing industry with an ineffective, incompentent and invisible regulator. This statement may get George his interview on GMTV, which is what matters to him, but it isn't going to clean up the industry.
After this increase in consumer complaints and the lack of any punitive fines for the culprites or recompense for those affected, the only thing that will change is....the regulator's name!