From mid-May, Telstra's telephone consultants will contact service providers that originate such messages on behalf of customers to advise that services in dispute should be immediately stopped and to help arrange refunds on services customers have not intentionally requested.

Telstra says this initiative will be backed by an education campaign to more than one million mobile customers offering advice on tackling and understanding unwanted premium text messaging services.

Telstra's head of consumer marketing, Jenny Young, said the number of customer complaints over premium SMS had tripled over the past 12 months.

"Telstra receives hundreds of calls each month from customers who have inadvertently locked themselves into ongoing text message services. We want to make it as simple as possible for our customers to put a halt on unwanted premium text messages and stop the drain to their hip pocket," she said.

Telstra's standard advice, which it says is communicated regularly to customers is that they should be careful with whom you share your mobile number and that they should read the fine print when entering competitions or using text messages to download services such as ringtones.

Telstra suggests that customers try replying to unwanted message with the word 'stop'.  More tips from Telstra can be found here.

Telstra is also working with service providers and other stakeholders to introduce an industry-wide approach to premium text messaging services.