Mobile premium services industry tries to put its house in order

Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 18 March 2009 10:33

Opinion and Analysis

Furthermore, any "free" offer must clearly state the terms and conditions, including any requirement to accept an accompanying paid service. And before any "free" period expires, suppliers must send a message to the nominated phone detailing the impending charges, the helpline and the STOP message.

Another welcome feature of the code is the requirement that suppliers must notify customers each time they incur $30 in non-subscription charges within a calendar month.

Another malpractice we've all heard about is bogus participants in chat-style services encouraging paying customers to send more and receive more messages than they would otherwise. The code doesn't stop that or similar practices, but it does keep customers informed about the charges they're racking up.

In the absence of such an "expenditure update", operators must remind customers that they are subscribed, and the costs involved.

These notifications must include details of the STOP message.

Even if the code is immediately registered by ACMA, it won't take effect until July 2009.

Will the code "help the industry weed out the rogues who engage in deceptive practices," as Communications Alliance CEO Anne Hurley claimed?

It should help, but in my opinion it doesn't go far enough. The whole idea of selling subscriptions by advertising individual pieces of content is fundamentally flawed. It's like asking for a return train fare and then having the cost of a season ticket automatically debited from your account.